Post by Wasp on Apr 25, 2007 23:25:13 GMT
I have been reading posts about do Protestants feel alienated in Ireland. Below are some of the replies.
"I attended a mainly Protestant secondary school here in Dublin (although I'm not one myself) and I never got the impression that this was an issue. However I have heard a lot of young Irish people make jokes about it a mixed company, in a way they probably wouldn't joke about other faiths."
".....once you cross the border no-one gives a flying Fart , what religon you are"
"Try being a divorced English Protestant, then try marrying an Irish Catholic girl in a Catholic church....It's amusing the ignorance of some people towards protestants. I've heard "Do they baptise their young" (No, but we do eat our first born) as well as "Do they take communion" (no, they just lay a bit of bread and a dash of dessert wine to get the crowds in)......That aside, amongst the younger generation there is no problem, most people in Ireland I have met seem to have a huge problem with the Catholic church rather than the Anglican one."
"A friend of mine comes from a farming background in Wexford. His family were Protestant going back as far as they can remember. In his last year in secondary he switched from an exclusive Protestant boarding school down south to a comprehensive nearer to home. He always goes on about the how iconography scattered around the school made him feel a little uneasy (i.e. statues of Mary, crucifixes), but he mostly jokes about it. He's a Nationalist, but is more assertive about his Protestantism that his folks were. I read somewhere that the general attitude of the apolitical Protestants who remained south of the border after 1921 was to keep their heads down (for whatever reason) and I think there's still a wee element of that in Southern Irish Protestant culture today, but I think that's will all change for the better. I guess that would be an understandable attitude to take considering how DeValera almost tried to spot-weld the Catholic Church to the state in the 1930's"
"I was raised a catholic but reject every aspect of it now and its done me more good than harm. I don't think religion is a big issue in Ireland two of my best friends have protestant backgrounds and it just isn't an issue. Despite this I still experience a huge amount of alienation/isolation and it has to do mainly with my lifestyle choices more than anything else."
"I was warned by someone that there may be prejudice towards me if I moved to Dublin, but then again that was from an older generation"
"I'm Protestant and have never felt alienated in the South (where I've lived all my life). There have been some strange moments though such as the day the Pope came to to town and all my childhood friends headed off to the Phoenix Park to see him and I wasn't allowed!.........As regards attitudes towards Protestants in the Republic, I think it's a non-issue for the vast majority of the population......Our grandparents generation would probably tell an even more different story; remember that a fairly vicious campaign of sectarian murder and forced eviction was practiced in the countryside after 1922 against those perceived as 'Big House' Protestants, i.e. the former ruling class. The Protestant population of the South dropped sharply in that period with many choosing to emigrate to England."
"the problems are primarily with the state -its when schooling and medical proceedures enter the mix you see how one faith is clearly favoured over another"
"hospital faith-based policies are very scary things - especially for women"
"In Ireland I have found that whilst religion is not an issue, it is still there."
"I attended a mainly Protestant secondary school here in Dublin (although I'm not one myself) and I never got the impression that this was an issue. However I have heard a lot of young Irish people make jokes about it a mixed company, in a way they probably wouldn't joke about other faiths."
".....once you cross the border no-one gives a flying Fart , what religon you are"
"Try being a divorced English Protestant, then try marrying an Irish Catholic girl in a Catholic church....It's amusing the ignorance of some people towards protestants. I've heard "Do they baptise their young" (No, but we do eat our first born) as well as "Do they take communion" (no, they just lay a bit of bread and a dash of dessert wine to get the crowds in)......That aside, amongst the younger generation there is no problem, most people in Ireland I have met seem to have a huge problem with the Catholic church rather than the Anglican one."
"A friend of mine comes from a farming background in Wexford. His family were Protestant going back as far as they can remember. In his last year in secondary he switched from an exclusive Protestant boarding school down south to a comprehensive nearer to home. He always goes on about the how iconography scattered around the school made him feel a little uneasy (i.e. statues of Mary, crucifixes), but he mostly jokes about it. He's a Nationalist, but is more assertive about his Protestantism that his folks were. I read somewhere that the general attitude of the apolitical Protestants who remained south of the border after 1921 was to keep their heads down (for whatever reason) and I think there's still a wee element of that in Southern Irish Protestant culture today, but I think that's will all change for the better. I guess that would be an understandable attitude to take considering how DeValera almost tried to spot-weld the Catholic Church to the state in the 1930's"
"I was raised a catholic but reject every aspect of it now and its done me more good than harm. I don't think religion is a big issue in Ireland two of my best friends have protestant backgrounds and it just isn't an issue. Despite this I still experience a huge amount of alienation/isolation and it has to do mainly with my lifestyle choices more than anything else."
"I was warned by someone that there may be prejudice towards me if I moved to Dublin, but then again that was from an older generation"
"I'm Protestant and have never felt alienated in the South (where I've lived all my life). There have been some strange moments though such as the day the Pope came to to town and all my childhood friends headed off to the Phoenix Park to see him and I wasn't allowed!.........As regards attitudes towards Protestants in the Republic, I think it's a non-issue for the vast majority of the population......Our grandparents generation would probably tell an even more different story; remember that a fairly vicious campaign of sectarian murder and forced eviction was practiced in the countryside after 1922 against those perceived as 'Big House' Protestants, i.e. the former ruling class. The Protestant population of the South dropped sharply in that period with many choosing to emigrate to England."
"the problems are primarily with the state -its when schooling and medical proceedures enter the mix you see how one faith is clearly favoured over another"
"hospital faith-based policies are very scary things - especially for women"
"In Ireland I have found that whilst religion is not an issue, it is still there."
