As a Christian, I have always been somewhat suspicious of the way that the conflict in Northern Ireland has been framed as Protestant vs Catholic. Since these expressions of Christian faith would both want to honour Jesus and his teaching, “Love your enemies,” it strikes me that any violence between the two factions is evidently not coming from authentically Christian convictions. This was confirmed for me when I saw an article on the BBC news recently about a young Catholic woman who had been moved by her housing association into a predominantly Protestant estate. Footage from her doorbell’s camera showed two men shouting abuse and trying to kick in her front door. Because of the framing of the news item, we were expected to conclude that these men were Protestant [Christians]. Indeed, they may have identified themselves as such, but in reality, they were simply thugs. Jesus’ well-known “Parable of the Good Samaritan” is, at its simplest level, a sharp corrective to racial, political and religious hatred and can be easily understood by children. Clearly, these two men did not even have a child’s grasp of basic Christianity!
As a Protestant Christian myself (the Church of England is a Protestant denomination), I find it uncomfortable to see such thuggery being tacitly portrayed by the press as typical of Protestant behaviour. To me, it is simply lazy journalism which ultimately serves to undermine public confidence in Christianity as a whole. Or maybe it’s not lazy, but deliberate. Maybe someone, somewhere, has chosen to keep on framing the stories this way in order to deter people from considering the claims of Christianity (through either Catholic or Protestant teaching). Who knows? (But I have known people refuse to engage with Christian ideas because they blame “religion” for causing “all the wars.”)
The reality is that most of our society’s values have come from Christianity, and therefore we are all to some extent “Christian” in the way we think and act. This means the repulsion that many will have felt, as I did, at seeing the thugs kicking in the door of a vulnerable young woman will have had its roots in the Christian teaching that we should care for one another and be especially mindful of the poor, the weak and the refugee. How ironic that by the media’s framing of “The Troubles”, this righteous and godly repulsion could then become the root of an aversion to and avoidance of the very faith that gave it to us!
Or consider the sense of outrage that many feel over “Partygate”, especially with the new video evidence that has just emerged. Or Boris Johnson’s Honours List for his cronies. This outrage comes from the Christian understanding that leaders should be servant-hearted people of integrity. Jesus said to his disciples, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.” Pre-Christian leaders behaved as they pleased. They set rules for others, but not for them. There was no equality. We are upset because we expect better from our civil servants and government ministers. Because we are Christian. But we are less so than we were, and our leadership, supported by our media, is leading the way. God help us all!
May the Christ whose values we value become more real to us all.
Photo by Andi Superkern on Unsplash