Northern Ireland: Religious Conflict Or Misunderstood Nationalism? (Contribution)

The results of yesterdays' vote in Northern Ireland could have been predicted by Irishmen and Britons 400 years ago- in other words, very little has changed in a country that has been imperially ruled by Great Britain until the early 20th century.

A ray of hope can be detected, at least, in the fact that the 1998 power sharing agreement may still be implemented in the assembly, where the main parties will certainly clash along their self-proclaimed religious dividing lines of Catholicism and Protestantism.

Religious conflicts in the Anglo-Saxon world- much less in most of Europe- are rare, so the case piques our curiosity of why these people just can't get along.

To begin with, we must rightly point out that the conflict has its roots in the imperial policies of Britain first, and only later did the hostility acquire a religious disposition.

This explains the dual nature of nationalistic Irish Catholic groups that are fighting British-leaning Protestant rulers sent from London to govern the province.

In regard to the first nationalistic consideration, British violation of Ireland can be dated back to the Norman Conquest in 1066, when shortly after this Ireland was conquered and ruled indirectly by London.

Up to the reign of Henry VIII the relationship was further strained by arbitrary land confiscations, political oppression and emigration from Great Britain, but both countries were still very Catholic so the conflict fell into the also very convenient shoe box categorization of classical imperialism theory.

Things changed when Henry VIII needed a divorce from Catherine of Aragon and the Pope wouldn't grant it. This was rather hypocritical of Rome, for the Catholic Church was usually very forthcoming with divorces of convenience when asked nicely and paid handsomely by Divine Right monarchs.

But this case was different, since Pope Clement VII was in the difficult position of being a virtual prisoner of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, whose auntie just happened to be the spurned spouse Catherine.

Frustrated by waiting 7 years for the Pope to answer, Henry simply followed the fashionable Protestant movement on the continent and declared himself head of the Anglican Church. But because of the British control over Ireland, he had himself named Supreme Head of the Irish Church in 1536.

In this way, Britain now had both a nationalistic and religious insurgency across the Irish Sea.

Meanwhile, in the south of the Island country, order descended into chaos, but in the Northern provinces around Ulster, the region remained semi-independent and was spared the bitterness until 1607, when the so-called Plantation of Ulster occurred.

Commanded from London, Scottish Presbyterians and English Protestants were introduced into the region, coming into direct confrontation with the local Catholic Irish, who spoke a different language and enjoyed a unique culture. Imperialist tendencies combined with religious zealousness with the rise of Oliver Cromwell during the English Revolution in 1649.

At the start of the conflict Irish ownership of plantations still registered around 59%; by 1661 it had fallen to 10% thanks to confiscations, and by the end of the 18th century this figure had sunk to a miserable 5%.

Although Catholics would later be tolerated in England- although begrudgingly- the Irish never recovered their national and religious identity before total independence came their way after World War I.

The separation of the island into nationalist Irish south and British protestant north became final in the negotiations of 1921, and in this was the new Irish Republic arose with the rump-state of the Ulster counties settled firmly in British hands, giving us the current situation in Northern Ireland.

It has been exceedingly difficult to understand the conflict as a religious one; all of the parties point with pride to the sectarian divisions along religious lines, but the division is just as poignant along ethnic, cultural, linguistic and socio-economic fractures.

The mantle of religious conflict in Northern Ireland should therefore be dropped, since the churches in question have long since ceased to be hostile to each other, and it is inaccurate for the factions to be holding this antiquated banner that complicates the situation unnecessarily.

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