Introduction: Christian Citizenship
Derek Poole

Comment
Priscilla Reid

From the Director
David Porter

Outside the Camp
Donald Watts

Citizenship
From 'For God and His Glory Alone'

Love: An attribute of Citizenship
Graham Cheesman

Memory and Redemption
David J Montgomery

Holy Nation
Lois Barrett

Grace Healed Eyes
Steve Stockman

Negotiating the Future
Deirdre Mullan

Book Reviews
Alwyn Thomson and Dorothy McMillan

< Past Issues Archive

NEGOTIATING THE FUTURE
Towards a Process of Forgiveness which Frees the Future from the Legacies of the Past

I have often pondered if Northern Ireland is really a Christian Society. While no serious analysis would say that our conflict here is a religious war, it cannot be denied either that religion is a significant factor in the relationship between the two communities.

Learning about religious traditions and cultures begins early in our families, and while the problems are many and complex, some of our religious traditions have reinforced the divisions in this community and fuelled the myths on which the 'troubles' thrive. Owning one's identity and roots is a good and noble thing in itself. However, the over- identification with one community instead of another, tends to obscure the Christian message 'Love your neighbour as yourself'.

One of the disturbing aspects of ongoing civil unrest is the message that is being conveyed to the younger generation, many of who now use the phrase: "It's cool to hate." The example of years of hostility and intransigence has left its mark on their impressionable lives. What we need now more than ever is courageous leadership, which will mount a challenge to the fear that is endemic in our community and model a different kind of engagement. We have however persistently stifled good leadership because of our fear of change. But fear is worse than the risk of change, because where there is fear, the transforming work of God is dismissed and evil is boundless.

Courage on the contrary, is a response to fear and is not just the responsibility of leaders. We each have daily choices to make between fear and courage if we are to see a society develop for the greater good of all.

Fear breeds hatred, and hatred is not cool but evil. The two go hand in hand and share the same source. The problem is that sometimes evil is not done in its own name but in the name of love. Elie Wiesel, author of Night was sent as a child to the Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. In an interview with Philippe de Cheron when asked the question, "What was God doing while His children were being massacred by others of his children?" Wiesel suggests that had Jesus known what his disciples would do in his name and the blood they would spill, supposedly for him, that he (Jesus) would have regretted it.

This is an important suggestion for all of us who share or claim allegiance to the Christian faith in Ulster. What Christians do and continue to do both to each other and to other human beings brings a sense of anguish and sadness. Ours may not be a religious war but it is a conflict built and sustained by fear.

It is in vogue to compare and contrast what is happening in Northern Ireland with other areas in the world where there is conflict. South Africa is one such comparison. A minority of the unionist community has been likened to the Afrikaner style of leadership, which asserted that the only way to protect ones identity and traditions is to exclude all that are different. The honourable objective of the unionist family is to protect their heritage and their links with Britain; the question however is how is this to be done - by some form of apartheid? The challenge for the Unionist leadership is to help people to come to a realisation that their rich cultural heritage can be shared with all who live in this place. Equally, the honourable objective of the nationalist community is to see a United Ireland. This group too needs to reexamine its mindset, which says: "This is our land and you unionists have no right to stop us getting what we want, namely a United Ireland."

The discovery of mutual South Africanness is an interesting example for us but is possibly unworkable in this land because of the way our people see their identity. As one commentator put it: "The diversity of South Africa makes victory impossible for any party, and therefore makes compromise inescapable for all parties." (Tertius Myburgh)

We live in a situation where it is so easy to get elected to public office by negatively exploiting the past. While I agree with the argument that we need to respect the past, I believe that it has been used to create many present problems and we need to move beyond it if we are to prevent it from paralysing the future. Our challenge is therefore to find ways to use the past not as propaganda but to build understanding and a better Ireland.

Thirty years of violence and protests have painfully taught us that any form of force or coercion cannot solve our divisions. It can only be solved by the kind of agreement we have now voted for. With the election of a new Assembly, the unionist majority can no longer run to London to make sure that the union is safe or hide behind the negative politics of always saying no. There is a similar challenge for Nationalists who have to come to terms with the reality of Unionist identity and political allegiance. The best guarantee that we can give each other for the future is to abandon the politics and language of victory or defeat as if these were the only alternatives.

Both sections of our divided people must begin the awesome task of dismantling the barriers of distrust which centuries of fear have erected. The lessons from around the world are clear. Conflict resolution requires dialogue and negotiation. The problems of contested parades is possibly a touchstone for this and it is certain that these conflicts will not go away until we find ways to create compromise where freedoms collide.

From the perspective of my own work as an educator, several things are needed to help us move forward. First and foremost, there is a need to begin to use language that is both neutral and respectful. Following this, there is a need for honest dialogue. More effort is needed to work through the sectarianism that infects our lives. All of us who claim to be Christian have a responsibility to 'mend the world'. The common exclamation that too much has been given is an attitudinal barrier, and serves no purpose. Thirdly, we need to develop and create rituals that encourage tolerance and respect. Such rituals would enable participants to deal with the past and with one another, in order to move away from the violence. If we are committed to honest dialogue and respect, and open to the risk of change we have every right to anticipate a different kind of future.

The question of how to decommission the mindsets of a new generation away from the legacy of 'us' and 'them' has preoccupied me since I heard one young person say, "It's cool to hate." There is no intellectual or imported solution to this kind of animosity. We have to work together to achieve a consensus for inclusion and mutual respect among ordinary people for whom the complex political questions can be of little interest in the day to day survival of living. We must be involved in healing the divisions and hurts of the past by building inter community trust. If our Christian beliefs are to have any credibility we must begin this healing process with forgiveness, for forgiveness alone frees the future from the haunting despair of the past.

Dr Deirdre Mullan - Head of Religious Studies at Thornhill College, Derry. She holds a PhD in Gender Issues in Education.