Religion, Culture and the Constitution

Religion Culture and the Constitution.

It is clear that Orange parades are contentious in parts of the six counties/ N. Ireland. In catholic areas these parades are at least protested against and at most opposed with violence. Why is this? Is the root cause religion or culture or the constitution. Which?

Religion

If the Orange parades were simply about Protestantism and those taking part paraded with bibles alone then in such circumstances an eyebrow wouldn’t be raised. If the parades ended solely in the preaching of sermons full of biblical quotes and in the singing of robust revivalist hymns, the parades would go unnoticed. So since the parades are opposed sometimes with spitting, sometimes with violence, some thing more than Protestantism is being put on display.

Culture

It is currently fashionable for the Orange Order to claim that the parades are about the expression of Protestant culture. So what is culture and more especially Protestant culture? Culture is a slippery concept. Chairman Mao said the people move in culture as fish move in water. According to the dictionary culture in the broadest sense is the totality of socially transmitted behaviour patterns arts, beliefs, institutions and all other works of human thought characteristic of a community or a people. If however Orange Parades were simply socially transmitted behaviour patterns and seen as artistic expressions on banners and the upholding of beliefs and institutions Protestant culture would pass unnoticed. More particularly the popular view of culture is that it has to do with literature, art works, music, language, dance, folklore and legend. In all of that in what sense are Orange parades an expression of all works of thought in the Protestant community? What is Protestant literature? All there is, are the Weaver poets but for those who take poetry seriously those are local doggerel pieces and express a weak culture. So the Orangemen aren’t being stoned over poetry. Of course Ulster Scots claim Robert Burns as part of their culture but the culture expressed by Burns is not indigenous to Ulster but is apart from it. What then are the art works of the protestant community? There are folk murals painted on gable walls by folk artists. Again this art is the expression of a weak culture. What of music? There’s a slim volume of Orange songs but the songs are characteristic of Irish culture. What of language? Some Protestants claim they have a native tongue in Ulster Scots. This is part of the claim that N. Ireland is a nation but the people are split over both claims. A referendum to sort out whether Ulster Scots is a language or not would be useful. What of dance? Some Protestants adopt Scottish dance as their culture but if the Orangemen were dancing strath-speys on Royal Avenue in Belfast and if the Apprentice Boys were doing Highland Flings on Derry’s walls no one would give a damn The Orange Order demonstrations are about much more than that. What of folklore and mythology? There’s Irish folklore but no Ulster Scots folklore. There are those who connect N. Ireland with the legendary Finn Mc Cool but Finn belongs to Irish legend. The upshot of this evaluation of protestant culture is that it is weak in nature but if the Orange parades were solely about culture no hair would be turned on anyone’s head. So why the violent bitter reaction connected with such parades?

The Constitution.

To get to the root of this question one must examine U.K. constitution. The problem here is that Protestantism and the constitution have been intertwined since the battle of the Boyne. The U.K. constitution is unwritten and proceeds by historic precedent, historic practice and convention. The battle of the Boyne is part of the historic precedent of U.K. constitution and from that has arisen the notion of a protestant ascendancy and protestant ruling class. In that way church and state in U.K. constitution isn’t separate and apart but are closely interwoven so in effect U.K. constitution gives a protestant state for a protestant people. While U.K. constitution may be no longer be seen that way in secular Great Britain this view of the constitution is alive and seen as valid in Protestant Ireland. While this is unwritten it is intuitively felt in Ireland. For that reason U.K. constitution has understandably been rejected by Catholic Ireland and clung to by Protestant Ireland. Because of this U.K. constitution has a violent history in Ireland. This constitutional conflict is still observable today in the streets of Belfast and Derry Orange parades nowadays are an assertion of the Protestant ascendancy mentality built into U.K. constitution. The Protestant ascendancy notion was copper fastened in Ireland in the1801 Act of Union. Thereafter protestant Ireland hijacked the protestant Crown so that in Ireland the Crown is seen as a Crown for Protestants. This is the situation in present day N. Ireland where the Queen on state visits to N. Ireland is confined to protestant districts. Catholic districts are no-go areas for the Queen but on state occasions a handful of tame Catholics are brought into the Queen’s presence to gloss the matter over.

To resolve this deep-seated problem of the U.K. constitution in Ireland church and state will have to be separated. While the intertwining of church and state in Great Britain doesn’t present a problem because there church and state go hand in glove in the established Protestant church (the Church of England is the Tory party at prayer); in Ireland it does present a serious problem in that the vast majority of the people are Catholic. In Ireland in U.K. constitution church and state will have to separate. This can be done in a specific written Irish constitution for Ireland, namely The National Government of Ireland Act. In this Act the Crown should be defined as Christian as far as Ireland is concerned and neutral in relation to the denominational churches. In doing this the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland would need to change to The Federal Kingdom of the Sovereign Nation of Ireland and Great Britain or vice versa depending upon ones perception of these islands.

The National Government of Ireland would require much more and should cover life in Ireland and the history thereof. A version of the national Government of Ireland can be found in the book THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE---published by Authorhouse and it will give a good idea of what the Act would require. In the Act the battle of the Boyne and the Orange Order would still remain as a centrepiece of the new Federal Kingdom Constitution. The Orange Order would need reform in this manner: -
(1) The Order should become the Royal Orange Order of Ireland.
(2) Each member would take an oath to be loyal to the Crown, to uphold civil and religious liberty, to be Christian in belief, religious practice, moral outlook, behaviour and in speech.
(3)The expectation that each member would adopt an ecumenical spirit.
(4)The 12th July t o be declared a National Holiday in Ireland.
(5)Freedom of access to Irish territory in all its aspects.

A detailed development of this reform can be found in the book –THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE—article 10 The Orange Order Page 231