Re: [Marxism] On Gary's indignation and my opinions

[James Daly <james.irldaly@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I recently said that if I gave a factual account of the history of
Catholicism and Protestantism (I meant locally) I would be accused by
both liberals and Marxists here of religious bigotry.  My good friend
Calvin B. (who is a serious analyst of prejudice etc) said surely not
unless I omitted the "religious bigotry and insane activities of the
Catholic or Protestant churches". Note that he is placing conditions on
what I could write without being so accused.  He is after all a
Protestant atheist! ;>)
As an interim answer I offer the following item from the anti-republican
daily, the Irish Independent. Note that the President (of the 26
counties), who comes from the notorious North Belfast where her younger
brother was randomly killed in the Seventies for being a catholic, who
not long ago on a state occasion received communion in the (Protestant)
Church of Ireland cathedral, is said to be "at the centre of a sectarian
row", implying that she is "sectarian" -- a use of the word which I have
criticised strongly in past posts -- and only her attackers are quoted.-- JD

******************

McAleese rouses unionist wrath [righteous indignation!  ;>) ] by
comparing them to the Nazis

PRESIDENT Mary McAleese was at the centre of a sectarian row last night
after claiming that some Protestant children in the North were taught to
hate Catholics in the same way Germans of the Hitler era had been taught
to hate Jews.

It angered unionists who accused her of vilifying their community and
downplaying the horror of the Holocaust.

In a radio interview, President McAleese made the point that
anti-semitism that existed for decades had been built upon by the Nazis.

"They gave to their children an irrational hatred of Jews in the same
way that people in Northern Ireland transmitted to their children an
irrational hatred of Catholics," she said.

Former Stormont Culture Minister Michael McGimpsey accused President
McAleese of downgrading the suffering of Jews during the Holocaust.

"To compare the Holocaust, where six million Jews were exterminated,
with Northern Ireland shows a total lack of understanding and sympathy,"
said the Ulster Unionist assembly member.

"Not only will people in Northern Ireland be outraged but so will people
in the Irish Republic who would be startled to see their President say
something so disgraceful. It will blight her presidency in the long term."

Ian Paisley Jr, a Democratic Unionist Assembly member, said: Mrs
McAleese's comments were "completely irrational and are designed to
insult the integrity of the Protestant community and damn an entire
generation of Protestant people."


Original Message

I thought Nestor's post on the social and political content of
Protestantism and Catholicism was very interesting. I don't see how a
similar attempt by James or anyone else could fare any worse. That is,
unless it sought to cover the up the religious bigotry and insane
activities of the Catholic or Protestant churches. No doubt the natives
of South America and the natives of Ireland respectively could profer
quite nuanced views of both religions.
JAMES WROTE:
And it is refreshing to see you express a non-Anglo understanding of the
history of Catholicism and Protestantism. If I were to attempt that
here, I would be accused by both liberals and Marxists of >religious
bigotry, and that is a very oppressive, inhibiting and censoring factor.

>


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