What are the reasons for the irish fighting along catholic/protestant lines?
by 
Midnighttoker
ANSWERS: 3
-
Historically, Ireland has been almost universally Catholic (once it converted from pagan practices). When the British invaded northern Ireland and expropriated land, they had already converted to Protestantism. As the fight between English landowners and starving Irish commoners escalated, the religion of each side became involved in the dispute (naturally, each had to proclaim God was on their side in the dispute...:-P...). The religious aspect is more of a proxy for the class/nationalist dispute than anything else.
-
English involvement in Ireland began as early as the 12th Century and by the 1300s all the land in Ireland was under English control. At this time both countries were Roman Catholic. In 1541 Henry VIII forcibly made himself King of Ireland. Later Elizabeth I and her successors tried to inflict Protestantism on Ireland. As a result many Catholics were deported and many Protestants, many of them of Scottish descent, were given land. This sort of thing went on for centuries leading to the situation where those wanting independence from Britain were from Catholic families and those wanting to remain part of Britain were from the immigrant Protestant families. Most labels aren't fully accurate, but Republican and Loyalist are more accurate in this case. Unfortunately centuries of conflict only seems to have reinforced the idea that there is a religious base for the differences between different sections of the inhabitants of the island of Ireland.
-
Might as well ask why the KKK is made up of Whites and the NAACP (predominantly) Blacks. Just as there are many more admirable attributes of 'White' than one might think if all one examines is the KKK, and many more non-admirable aspects of Black culture than one would assume if the NAACP was the only manifestation of culture/allegiance/mores examined, so to is the 'irish fighting' a heck of a lot more complex than merely what church one does, or does not attend. No true christian religion endorses killing another human in Northern Ireland - unfortunately, it's esier to raise money for a fight if you appeal to the religious symphaties rather than explain that you are trying to gain political power. And even that is too simplistic - another can of worms opened. All I can really say is that I lived there for decades and I'm damned if I can make any 'sense' of whts really the point of it all...though I suspect its like every other conflict, money and personal power will be found in the mix of motivations.....
RELATED QUESTIONS
Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC