Belfast Blood Feud

Illustrated by a large color photo of policemen clad in riot gear standing near a fire, the heading read "Riots break out in Northern Ireland." The cause was the celebration of the "Twelfth" holiday, which celebrates long-ago British victories over the Irish. Masked Irish Republicans took exception to it, throwing Molotov cocktails, rocks, bricks, bottles, wooden planks and golf balls (golf balls?) at the cops.

As usual, the two sides were described by their religious affiliation, which gave the impression that the difference in faith is central to the conflict. But is it?

This strife has been going on for over 800 years, ever since a nobleman named Strongbow invaded the island from England. Over the years, land was confiscated and given to British loyalists in a plantation system. The owners controlled the wealth while the Irish eked out subsistence livings and were relegated to second-class status in their own homeland. The fertile land and cheap labor enabled the loyalists to get rich by exporting food to Britain's burgeoning empire.

While cereal crops were being fed to cattle to be sold, the Irish became dependent on one main staple: potatoes. This intensified the effect of the potato blight in 1845 and caused a massive reduction in the Irish population through starvation and emigration. A resultant uprising was put down by the British.

The English had lots of experience in quelling Irish uprisings. In the worst, Oliver Cromwell eliminated over half the island's population through killing, death by starvation or disease, deportation into slavery, and emigration.

There's an ancestral, deep seated hatred between these factions that's only gotten worse as each generation wrote its own chapter. But it's economic and political, not religious. Even well-known atheist Richard Dawkins writes that "wars and feuds between religious groups or sects are seldom actually about theological disagreements." And that's the case here.

But the use of misleading terms persists. The two sides aren't having theological debates, so why do reporters opt to use "Protestant" and "Catholic" instead of the more appropriate terms "Loyalist" or "Unionist" and "Republican" or "Nationalist?"

Maybe it's because the media tries not to miss a chance to associate Christianity with conflict and violence, especially when the storyline's been cultivated for as long as this one.

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