Comparison of Catholic and Protestant Relations
Although the people of Europe hold a firm understanding and connection to their cultural and historical roots, few Europeans do to such a degree as the Irish. And to the people of British Northern Ireland, this history plays a part of their every day lives; the political, class, culture and ethnic divisions run every bit as strong today as throughout Irish history. But why have these divisions hardened over time? Many European states manage religious and ethnic differences with tensions to a minimum. I propose that these tensions are the consequence of suppression of the Roman Catholic majority of a Protestant ruling elite for several centuries, which has left lasting implications on the modern class structure. Article Five of The Act Of Union, July 2, 1800 was a major contributing factor to the situation. While allowing Irish representation in Great Britain government, it did not allow for Irish Catholic representation. There was also the establishment of one Irish church under the law, Protestant Episcopal Church, to be called, The United Church of England and Ireland. This paper will outline the struggles between the Catholics and the Protestants in Ireland before and after the Act Of Union to compare relations before and a
Instead of legal forms of political advocacy, in the late eighteenth century secret organizations started emerging. There was a concurrent situation of overpopulation in Scotland, and sending Scottish labour to cultivate Ulster was an ideal solution (Foster: 1988). The temptation to fit things in a neat, and orderly way is very strong. But the Protestants of Northern Ireland remained steadfast in their Unionism, mainly due to their demographic and class superiority over the Catholics, and any Irish State would surely bring that to a close. "(Foster: 1988) This widened the gulf between Protestant and Catholic, and started the gradual drift of Catholics from legitimate politics as a form of expression. The catholic army, upon its defeat left Ireland to fight under other countries' forces, such as French, Spanish, or Austrian (Foster: 1988). Oliver Cromwell's redistribution of land to, in many cases, absentee Non-Irish Protestant landlords destroyed them, and dramatically increased resentment and bitterness between the two religious sects (Foster: 1988). But militancy was not the sole cause for Catholics, they also employed non-violent methods of protest such as strikes, and the first Boycott, used against Captain Charles Boycott in 1880. Known as the Protestant Ascendancy, it was a time of repressive laws towards Catholics (O'Connor: 1962). This symbol made the Unionists Protestants in Westminster seem completely illegitimate as far as democratic ideals are concerned. He was of firm belief that the Catholics of Ireland would be loyal subjects to the crown if granted the same rights as their Protestant compatriots (Healon: 1985). It had been the case with the Irish Catholic landlords that they had shared an affinity with their fellow Catholic tenants. When in 1689 he began to implement laws to this effect, the Protestants backed William the Orange, a Protestant Dutchman. This is documented in the Act of Settlement of 1662 in which, "many Protestant and nearly all Catholic landowners, according to their guilt in the eyes of the parliament, had lost all or a portion of their estates. Although welcomed by the beleaguered Catholic population, it also served to undermine the respect of the government's conviction, and drove the Catholics even more into the arms of their church for order (O'Connor: 1962).
Common topics in this essay:
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Northern Ireland,
Catholics O'Connor,
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Tony Blair,
Anglican Church,
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foster 1988,
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foster 1989,
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o'connor 1962,
irish history,
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northern ireland remained,
central west ulster,
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Acceptance Essays
