Introduction: Christianity, Culture & Identity
Alwyn Thomson

Christianity and Identity
Joe Liechty

< Past Issues Archive

CHRISTIANITY AND IDENTITY IN IRELAND
A Historical Perspective

In this paper I want to address two main themes. I want to look first at the relationship between history and identity in a way that addresses the situation facing Irish Christians today, particular in relation to the Christian response to sectarianism.

I then want to look at elements of Christian identity which can help Christians come to terms with these historically rooted problems.

Roots of Sectarianism
Sectarianism is a complex of attitudes, beliefs, behaviours and structures - at personal, communal and institutional levels - which involve religion as a significant component, which arise as subversions of natural and positive human needs for belonging, identity and the free expression of differences, and which consequently influence or cause destructive conflict by: negatively reinforcing the boundaries between myself or my community and others, belittling or demonising others, or justifying or enabling the domination of others.

The roots of sectarianism can be found in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In particular, three doctrines can be combined in ways that generate a sectarian attitude. They are:

• the doctrine of the one true church, which claims "Ours is the only true church and if you are outside it then your chances of salvation are much diminished if not totally gone."

• the doctrine that error has no right. Developed by Augustine in the fifth century to justify the use of state coercion to suppress his heretical opponents, this doctrine claims that those who are in error have no right to express or hold their beliefs.

  Ever since, the doctrine has been put to similar use as the principle behind every use of coercion, especially state coercion, for religious purposes. Error has no right is the doctrine behind penal laws, inquisitions, forced conversions, and similar ugly stains on Christian history.

• the doctrine of providence, which means first of all, the simple, basic teaching that God is at work in the world, and beyond that, the belief that a faithful Christian observer of the world can discern God's will and purpose by reading the signs of the times in human events and the natural world.

  Specifically, the origin of sectarianism lies in two combinations of these three doctrines.

  The first is the combination of one true church with error has no right.

  One true church is a truth claim and like every truth claim it carries the danger of arrogance and imposition. However, these are dangers, not necessary outcomes - everything depends on how the truth claim is made.

  If made consciously and humbly it does not have to impose on others. But if you believe that error has no right, then the chances are your truth claim will have disastrous consequences, for if your church is the one true church and error has no right, then it is your duty to see that error is suppressed by whatever means necessary.

  On this view, tolerance is no virtue - tolerance is a deadly vice. "Liberty of conscience...is the worst thing in the world," grumbled Pope Clement VIII around 1598. At that time this viewpoint was not peculiarly Catholic, being widely share by pious, zealous leaders in church and state. The idea of religious tolerance was only slowly and grudgingly coming to be accepted, and at first acceptance was much more a pragmatic, weary bowing to ugly, pluralistic reality than a happy embrace of a positive principle. This combination of doctrines creates the kind of sectarianism that demonises enemies and justifies their domination.

  The second source of sectarianism lies in the combination of the doctrine of the one true church with the doctrine of providence.

  Again, providence simply teaches that God is at work in his world, and far from being a problem this is a necessary doctrine. However, if providence is interpreted in light of one true church it is very easily reduced to "God is on our side". If this is then combined with error has no right, "God is on our side" is likely to mean "God wants us to suppress our enemies."

  The disastrous consequences are obvious, and in terms of our definition of sectarianism the result once again is the demonising of enemies and the justification of domination.

  A number of points in relation to these doctrines and their combinations should be noted.

  First, they are not doctrines in the restricted sense of propositions about faith to which assent is given. From the perspective of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries they are, rather, elements of a worldview - categories in which people thought, standard assumptions about the way things are. In other words, these are doctrines that deeply shaped Christian identity.

  Secondly, these doctrines were shared by the three main churches in Ireland - first the Roman Catholic church and the Church of Ireland, later the Presbyterian church. They did not emerge from the fringes. Thus sectarianism is rooted in the mainstream of Irish Christianity, not the margins.

  Thirdly, these doctrines were actively affirmed from this mainstream of Irish Christianity. Finally, the implication is that each of the three main churches was historically, either an established church or an establishment in waiting.

  Studies of sectarianism in Ireland have tended to focus on the Church of Ireland, but this is almost inevitable given the disproportionate share of power held by that church in its traditional role as established church. However, this is a question of power, not of principle - there is little reason to think that either Catholics or Presbyterians would have behaved any better as an establishment for they were animated by the same principles.

  One writer has summarised the attitude of all post-reformation governments, Protestant and Roman Catholic alike as: "when practicable, persecute."

  Identity in Opposition
  "To be a Catholic now was to know why one was not a Protestant" writes Patrick Corish, of early seventeenth-century Catholics. Similarly, in the Church of Ireland Protestant controversialists, "[~n rebutting Catholicism,.. helped to create for members of the church a new consciousness of their own beliefs and their distinctiveness, argues Alan Ford. An element of negative self-definition - defining myself by what I do not believe and who I am not - is inevitable. However, it becomes a problem when my identity is conceived too much in negative terms, and especially when my identity becomes dependent on my enemy remaining unchanged. Probing the identity of the Irish churches in any post-reformation period is likely to reveal some variation on this theme. Alan Falconer has argued that "the role of the Churches.. in the situation of conflict in Ireland communities by developing theology in opposition." He cites as an example The One Hundred Texts, published in 1939 which codified the teaching of the Irish Church Mission to new converts. Each text was accompanied by a list of questions divided into a number of sections, but the final section was always "Error Condemned" and the errors were always Roman Catholic.

  So, on Acts 4.12:
  

• 36 What is the one necessity of salvation?
  That it be in the name of our Lord.
• 37 What necessity does Rome add?
  Union with the Pope.
• 38 of what sin is she thus guilty?
  Of the sin of putting another name beside that of
  our Lord Jesus.

  Thus the teaching involved not only what to believe, but what not to believe.

  Falconer also discovered a different version of the same dynamic in a pamphlet, Anglican and Irish: What we Believe, published in 1976 and written by Victor Griffin, dean of St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin and a representative of the liberal Irish Protestant tradition.

  Chapter 2 'The Bishop of Rome in the Early Church', is devoted to proving that papal supremacy was the result of Rome's political pre-eminence rather than innate spiritual authority.

  Chapter 3 'The Petrine Texts', argues that the Catholic understanding of these texts is false.

  Chapter 4 contends that "monarchical episcopacy" in the Anglican manner "is a legitimate development in the life of the church," but that the development of the papacy is not equally legitimate. Only then, more than halfway through his booklet, does he develop an essentially positive account of what it means to be Anglican in Ireland.

  It seems that Griffin did not so much choose this combative method as have it thrust upon him by the oppositional assumptions of Irish society. He is clearly exasperated, even angry, with a society in which a newspaper letter-writer can blame the Troubles on Henry VIII and the reformation, and a Catholic Priest on television can "justify the claims of the Catholic church to be the one true church.. by detailing the persecution of Roman Catholics by Protestants" but with no acknowledgement of Catholic persecution of Protestants. "Such ignorance of the elementary facts of history," he says, "would b~ laughable if they were not so widespread and tragic."

  Christian Identity and the Things that Make for Peace
  In our community there is a legacy of sectarianism and identity in opposition. Dealing with this legacy must be a high priority for Christians. Given this, what resources does the Christian faith offer for dealing with this legacy?

  At least four biblical themes must shape our identity: reconciliation, justice, repentance and forgiveness.

  However, while Christians recognise the importance of repentance and forgiveness, many apply them in narrowly personal ways. As for reconciliation and justice, many Christians seem to live as if these themes were not in their Bibles, while others are likely to emphasise one at the expense of the other, sometimes dividing into two factions marked by mutual contempt. To the extent that this conceptual and practical dichotomy prevails, it guarantees that the justice and reconciliation we seek will be inadequate, and it makes it quite possible that our notions of justice and reconciliation will actually be corrosive forces. To function constructively, justice and reconciliation must function together. The actions which bridge the gap we conventionally place between justice and reconciliation are repenting and forgiving. While primarily understood as religious virtues they are also social and political virtues. Any group, from a family to a political party to a nation, would soon disintegrate without some functional equivalent of repenting and forgiving. While those terms need not be used, the virtues they represent need to be present. Indeed it would not be stretching the point too far to say that how well these virtues function is one good measure of the health of a society. The connection between reconciliation on the one hand and repentance and forgiveness is obvious and direct. Simply stated, reconciliation is the state of harmony that results from the combined action of repenting and forgiving.

  The relationship of justice with repentance and forgiveness is less straightforward but equally powerful. At the heart of repentance is always a justice claim, but one of a particularly important kind - it is a justice claim that we acknowledge against ourselves. Repentance involves the uncomfortable awareness that injustice is not solely something we suffer, but also something we inflict, and in this way repentance offers an antidote to the self-righteousness that so easily accompanies the pursuit of justice.

  Forgiveness is linked to justice in several ways. As with repentance there must always be a justice claim at the root of forgiveness, otherwise there is nothing to forgive and the language of forgiveness should not be used. But the genius of forgiveness is to offer a way of pursuing justice, without being destroyed by the frustration and anger of repeated failures. Forgiveness also helps to ensure that the recompense involved in justice claims will be directed towards restoration rather than sliding into revenge. This bias towards restoration brings new options and room to maneuver into the pursuit of justice. Because forgiveness focuses so clearly on restorative justice it allows the possibility that I may settle my justice claim by demanding less than full recompense, or perhaps none at all if that might aid restoration. Repenting and forgiving, then, are the linking bridges that unite the concepts of justice and reconciliation that we sometimes separate, whether theoretically, practically, or both. None of these -justice, reconciliation, repentance, forgiveness - can be properly understood without reference to the others, and none can function to full potential apart from the web that binds them together.

  Given the essential links between justice, reconciliation, repentance and forgiveness, and given how embedded these forces are in the Bible and in Christian tradition, it raises the question of how effective the churches in Ireland have been in promoting them.

  Reconciliation
  Far from being a reconciling force the churches have been a key principle of division in Irish society. These divisions can be seen in church life and religious practice, in marriage and family life, in education and in housing.

  While the first of these is inevitable, the churches have actively advocated this division. Until the 1960's it was a mortal sin for a Catholic to worship in a Protestant church. Some Protestant churches have had a reciprocal doctrine and, in any case, most Protestants seem to have operated in a reciprocal spirit. The formal Catholic teaching was changed by Vatican II but actual practice on the ground, Catholic and Protestant, remains much the same, and in this area the ecumenical movement has had very little impact. The religious segregation in housing may be primarily an accidental effect of twenty five years of violence, but it is no less important for being accidental. Marriage, family life and education have been segregated on a religious basis as part of a deliberate religious policy by the churches.

  These four areas make up the most fundamental elements of socialisation, and all of them are polarised along religious, sectarian lines. These essential structures socialise people into much that is good - very good - and yet religiously divided structures also socialise people into conflict and into sectarianism.

  Justice
  A failure in the area of justice follows automatically from the failure in reconciliation. The deep divisions in Irish society have meant that when the churches have pursued justice - and they have, sometimes very vigorously - it has almost always been justice for the tribe to which they are chaplains.

  Beyond this structural failure, however, the churches have actively embraced principles that are inherently unjust or lead to injustice. Here we need do no more than look back at the historical roots of sectarianism and the potentially poisonous combinations of the three doctrines noted. In their combinations these doctrines offer a justification for imposing on others and therefore for injustice.

  Repentance
  There are few historical examples of the churches behaving repentantly, let alone taking repentance on as a steady habit. On the contrary, triumphalism has been a too frequent element of Christian identity. One example illustrates how problematic repentance has been.

  From the 1680's into the 1770's, October 23 was celebrated by the Protestant establishment as a holy day of thanksgiving f6r delivery from the horrors of the rebellion of 1641. At the major celebration in Christ Church, a sermon was preached, often by a leading churchman, and subsequently published.

  Repentance was a frequent theme, but it was always repentance before God for sins against God, never for any possible sins against Catholics. In 1771 Thomas Leland, a Trinity Fellow, was the preacher who broke this mould and dared to suggest that 1641 was in part the result of Protestant sins against Catholics. His sermon was not published.

  Forgiveness
  It is a marvel to see the extent to which this powerful but difficult action operates in Northern Ireland. One of the main reasons for the relatively low level of violence 6ver the past twenty five years has been the way that Christians and their churches have consistently chosen to cut cycles of vengeance by calling for and practising forgiveness. Forgiveness is an aspect of the radical gospel of Jesus Christ that has significantly penetrated the people of Ireland.

  lf responding faithfully to some negative elements of Christian identity that history has bequeathed to us involves the practice of justice, reconciliation, repentance and forgiveness, recent changes offer the possibility that Christians and their churches can make a positive, maybe even a powerful contribution.

  As for justice, the churches have in this century abandoned the notion that error has no right. This does not undo the historic legacy but it allows them to be a force for justice if they so choose.

  As for reconciliation, the churches have abandoned the more lethal forms of antagonism they previously embraced, and if they do not do all one might wish to combat division, the record is much improved.

  As for repentance, especially in relation to sectarianism, the language of repentance and confession is being used to what is possibly an historically unprecedented degree: let us hope that words may become parents to deeds.

  lf these shifts continue in their current direction, we may see the churches, by embracing these virtues and actions from the centre of their tradition, making a major contribution to the development of a just and peaceful society.

  The Psalmist anticipating what a renewed society might look like spoke these words: 'Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky. Psalm 85.10-11 NRSV 'Yahweh himself bestows happiness, as our soil gives its harvest, Righteousness always preceding him and Peace following in his footsteps.' Psalm 85.12-13 Jerusalem Bible

  The word translated as righteousness in these verses refers to right harmonious relationships and can also be translated as justice.

  Let us ask what we can do to shape a Christian identity, as individuals, as congregations, as denominations, that faithfully reflect this vision of God's will.

  Joe Liechty - Irish School of Ecumenics