wfn.org | Riot reminds church gathering of realities of Northern Ireland

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Note #6726 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

conflict
21-June-2001
01212

Riot reminds church gathering of realities of Northern Ireland conflict

Violence mars ecumenical conference on 'Reconciled Diversity'

by Cedric Pulford
Ecumenical News International

BELFAST - Delegates at an international church conference here found the
realities of the Northern Ireland sectarian conflict dramatically underlined
when a major riot occurred in the city on the second day of their meeting.
	
About 600 rioters were involved in fighting on June 21between Protestants
and Catholics. Rioters threw about 100 petrol bombs during the violence.
Police responded by firing eight plastic bullets, but not injuring the
rioters.

	Thirty-nine police were confirmed injured during the disorder in the
Ardoyne area of Belfast, described by a senior police officer as one of the
most difficult and notorious interfaces" in the city between the two
communities.

	Earlier in the day, about 160 delegates attending the 5th general assembly
of the Leuenberg Church Fellowship - which brings together European
Lutheran, Reformed, United and Methodist churches - had toured
church-related projects working for reconciliation in the divided city.

	They also heard Professor John Brewer of Queen's University, Belfast -
where the conference is being held - describe the Northern Ireland conflict
as about the legitimacy of the state rather than about religion.

	Following the partition of Ireland in 1921, Northern Ireland remained part
of the United Kingdom while the rest of Ireland became independent.

	Professor Brewer said: "For most people their religious affiliation has no
substance in the conflict, such that 'Protestant' and 'Catholic' are merely
labels representing contrasting positions on the legitimacy of the state."

	He told an anecdote about a group of women protesters who had been urged as
Christians to love their neighbors, not shoot them. The protesters replied:
"We're not Christians, we're Protestants."

	The same, Professor Brewer added, applied to many Catholics.

	"It is unusual in the modern world for conflict to be socially marked by
religion, or at least for religion to remain important after the country has
modernized and industrialized..."

	He continued: "The conundrum then is why religion in Northern Ireland
retains its saliency as the critical social cleavage around which social
division coheres.

	"The answer is simply that Northern Ireland has not transcended the past."

	The Leuenberg Church Fellowship, which has 103 member churches, was created
following the Leuenberg Agreement of 1973, and is Europe's main
interdenominational Protestant grouping. The theme of the Belfast assembly
is "Reconciled Diversity."

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