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Editorial
Alwyn Thomson
Comment:
Politics: serving God and doing good!
Ethel White
From
the Director: Cultivating the common ground
David W Porter
ECONI
Statement: Confidence in God
October 2002
Postbag: Letters to the Editor
Why
vote?
Alison Laird
Communities
of hope
Lord Alderdice
Transformation 2003: Killing for God?
View
from the south
Patrick Mitchel
Church
& state
Esmond
Birnie MLA
Taking
the plunge
John Kyle
Faith
in politics
Interview: Rt Hon Paul Murphy MP
Your
kingdom come
Heather Morrow
ECONI
Statement: Forum for Peace & Reconciliation
January 2003
Bible
study series: Faith in the future
David
W Porter
Through
a glass, darkly
Changing Women, Changing Worlds Conference
Review:
A night in November by Marie Jones
Noel
McCune
Book
Reviews
Alwyn Thomson
For
God and His Glory Alone:
Study 3: Reconciliation
For
God and His Glory Alone:
Study 4: Peace
REVIEW:
A NIGHT IN NOVEMBER by Marie Jones
Reviewed by Noel McCune
THIS DRAMA, first staged in 1994, revolves around a Protestant civil servant clerical officer who takes malicious delight in both keeping a Fenian father of 6 hopelessly waiting for an interview and in gaining entry to the golf club that is closed to his boss, who is a Catholic. Suddenly he is at the crunch soccer match with his awful, grunting father-in-law, not daring to show his disgust at the vindictive bigotry which he finds around him. Then he’s giving his boss a lift home, discovering that life up the Falls Road isn’t as hideously foreign as his upbringing had told him. He begins to experience his socially ambitious wife as offensively silly and finds himself challenging their house guests, reflecting to himself ‘Here I am in the isle of Ireland and I’m told I should be ashamed for questioning our right to hate.’
The Daily Telegraph theatre critic, Charles Spencer described the play as ‘entertaining, topical and dishonest’. He commented that Jones’ drama was ‘ridiculously one sided’, adding that ‘her self congratulatory wallow in liberal guilt has resulted in Republican propaganda rather than a clear-headed analysis of all the intractable problems facing Northern Ireland.’
Arguably, the most intractable problem facing Northern Ireland is that of sectarianism and the second biggest problem that of pointing the finger at the other side, also known as ‘whataboutery’ (shades of motes and beams).
This play is a very amusing but ruthless assault on Protestant sectarian attitudes and, being written by someone brought up in the Protestant community, refreshingly free of ‘whataboutery’. Perhaps the lead character is a bit too naïve about the world around him and his wife too much of a caricature. And perhaps Republic of Ireland football supporters are sentimentalized. Jones’ generosity to Catholics and their culture does not allow her to show them in a bad light, but so what? Protestant attitudes, including those of Evangelicals have too often been so mean - blind to the good in the other culture or if not blind, then begrudgingly patronizing.
‘Whataboutery’ in Christians has as its root the problem of ‘little faith’ (Matthew 6: 30). Those of us whose faith is supposedly in the ‘Rock’ must be prepared to take risks for the Lord on whom alone all our hope and security should depend (Psalm 62:5, 6). So we must seek God’s grace to enable us to resist the temptation to blame the other side or excuse our own attitudes and actions because of the attitudes and actions of the other. Deep in the hearts of many gracious people, faithful servants of the Lord, lie awful sectarian attitudes. We must then urgently examine ourselves for the ‘offensive ways’ (Psalm 139:24) in our hearts, individually and collectively. Our pastors and teachers have preached to us about our sins, but in respect of our middle class sectarian attitudes they have failed to challenge us or have challenged us with kid gloves. This play pulls no punches. ‘Respectable’ middle class Protestant sectarianism fosters working class sectarian violence and hides behind it.
For someone who flinches every time my Redeemer’s name is used as a swear word, this was at times an uncomfortable two hours. But the challenge to Protestant sectarianism was timely and necessary and certainly not dishonest. And Dan Gordon’s acting in the Lyric performances was superb - well deserving of the standing ovation at the end.
DR NOEL McCUNE
is a consultant child and
adolescent psychiatrist and was a member of
ECONI until January 2002.
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