(The Nationalist, 12 April 2002)
Speaking in the House of Commons in 1922, and reflecting on the recently-concluded First World War, Winston Churchill said: ‘Then came the great war. Every institution, almost, in the world was strained. Great Empires have been overturned. The whole map of Europe has been changed…. The modes of thought of men, the whole outlook on affairs, the grouping of parties, all have encountered violent and tremendous changes in the deluge of the world. But, as the deluge subsides, and the waters fall short, we see the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone emerging once again. The integrity of their quarrel is one of the few institutions that has been unaltered in the cataclysm which has swept the world’. In a changing world, sectarianism in Northern Ireland remains one of the few constants.
A few years ago I met a lawyer who had spent his adult life in Hong Kong. Recognizing his accent as Northern Irish, I asked how he came to live abroad. He said that, in the nineteen twenties, his father, a Presbyterian minister, urged him to leave Northern Ireland, saying that the sectarian and political divisions there would last his (the son’s) life-time and could easily embitter him. In the interests of avoiding this, his father urged him to leave, which he did.
Under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland politicians, despite a lot of squabbling and posturing, have taken large steps towards the creation of an inclusive society in which all citizens are equal before the law and have equal opportunity in political, social and economic life.
But there is still a large deficit in attitudes – John Hume spoke of the need to decommission minds. Sectarian attitudes are still there and they provide the motivational fuel for hatred, division and murder. The two communities (to over-simplify a complex situation) are far apart, in some respects further apart than before. Most housing estates are populated overwhelmingly by members of only one community. New housing ghettoes are replacing old ones. While political problems have been significantly addressed, social and cultural problems remain and call for attention.
Politicians have done a large part of what politics can do. But politics has its limits. It cannot not do very much to bring about changes of attitude, of mind and of heart. That job rests with others, especially the churches. Challenging sectarianism is a task that needs to be done and the churches have a special responsibility in the matter.
The level of ecumenical contact between the churches, whether at the institutional or personal level, is small. Integrated schools, in which Catholic and Protestant pupils and teachers work together are a sign of hope for the future, though only time will tell how they work out. They place an extra responsibility on the shoulders of parents regarding the religious education of their children. But they are a good start.