Why is it that in Ireland it seems like Catholics and Protestants dislike each other?

Question

I'm doing a report for school, and need information on why it seems like Cathoilcs and Protestants do not get along.

Answer 1

The issue in Northern Ireland is political not religious. The media, who is always looking for short cuts and not the whole story, calls the participants Catholics and Protestants.

The conflict is about whether the British territory (probably the wrong word) of Northern Ireland should remain British or should become part of Ireland.

The majority of people in Ireland are Catholics. The majority of people in England and Northern Ireland are Protestants. There are actually Catholics and Protestants on either side.

The terrorists on either side of the issue are not Christian in any sense of the word.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

The basis for the animosity between Irish Catholics and Protestants goes back to the 1600s when Ireland was fighting England. Oliver Cromwell, who was Protestant, led the English troops against the Irish who were using the English Civil War as an opportunity to rebel against the English and gain independence. Form all accounts, Crommwell was very ruthless. Also, to ensure that the Irish did not rebel in later years, England nade rules that only Protestants could hold land.
It is in the Northern Counties of Ireland, known as Northern Ireland today, that the fighting is the bitterest. There are also more Protestants in the Northern counties. This is because England resettled Scots Protestants to these counties to weaken Irish Catholics in this area. These Scots were later known as the Scot-Irish (many of whom later immigrated to America, among them my ancestors) Because these Scots were Protestant, they did not join the Irish in rebelling against the Protestant Government of England.
Today, this animosity still lingers. It has more to do with politics than with religion. It just happens that those who wish for independence are Catholic, while those who wish to remain a part of the United Kingdom are Protestant.
For more information, you might want to search for Cromwell in Ireland, and Ulster Scots.

Answer 3

Same reason the Shiites and the Sunnis don't 'get along'.

Did you miss the part in history class where Catholics and Protestants fought wars against each other and bloodied up Europe for a few centuries?

Answer 4

"On one side of the troubles are Irish nationalists who wish to absorb the six counties of Northern Ireland into the Republic of Ireland; on the other side are Protestants who have lived in Northern Ireland for generations and watn to maintain the loyalty of the region to the British Union. Yet, though the conflict is between Catholic and Protestants, most observers question to what degree religion is actually at the heart of the dispute." (37)

"The problem, Hartley explained, was that the conflict had been made into a religous dispute by the British a century ago when they encouraged large numbers of Protestants from Scotland and England to settle in the Northern Irish counties. The result, Hartley said, was tension between peoples with two different religious labels, and more than that, who different ways of thinking. Hartley speculated that some of the trouble between the two communities was due to differences in what he called the 'thought processes' of the religiouns and in the characteristics of Roman Catholic and Protestant cultures.
Catholics like himself were'hierarchical,' Hartley explained, adding that it was a hallmark of Catholic thinking to assume that all Catholics in a region such asIreland are part of a unified community, the leaders of which can generally count on the loyalty of their people." (37-38)

The Irish Protestants, on the other hand, would never do such a thing. They were democratic 'up their ****, if you dont mind my saying so,' Hartley said. As a result, the y were constantly lookng for local bases of power and did not easily trust other groups or authorities. Hartley explained that even though the Protestants had been nasty ot him and other Catholics, he observed with some surprise that 'they were even nastier to each other.' Their leadership was based not on office but on charisma, which was powerful but ephemeral." (38)

"Like the followers of the Chritsian Identity movement, Paisley conceives of Christianity as being under siege by demonic forces embodied in the government and certain social groups, though in Paisley's case these groups are not Jews and other radical minorities, but Paisley's relgious opponetns: Irish Catholics and apostate Protestants." (40)

"Wright explained that he not only had an obligation to defend his religous compatriates - by violence if necessary - but also that religion provided him a moral sanction to enter into violent encounters. According to Wright, he and his Protestant comrades 'have the right to fight, to defend and to die for what we believe is Truth.'"(41)

"Fr. Faul went on to say that the Catholic culture of the Irish gave them the ability to kill and be killed, since death 'is a sacrifice' and 'the opportunity of forgiveness' lessens the guilt involved in killing" (43)

- Check the source below for more information regarding the conflict, other instances of religious violence, and the theory behind them. :-)

Source: Mark Juergensmeyer - Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence (Third Edtion - Completely Revised).

Answer 5

Ireland was prodominately Catholic, England invaded and brought their religion. Ireland fought back and got present day Ireland, England still has a chunk of it. Well the Catholic are in Ireland and the Protestants are in that chunk...Catholics are attacking trying to rid of the Protestants. long history...THUMBS UP FOR ALL ABOVE ME

Answer 6

It goes back a long way. If you were a Protestant you were OK with being ruled by England and not having a separate Irish government. So it is more than just religious differences even to this day.

Answer 7

Catholics and Protestants have been killing each other for the past 300 or more years in the UK.

Christian terrorism but you will never hear them call it that.

It is easier to just ignore whatever history doesnt feel good.







.

Answer 8

Look up Martin Luther, 1517 AD, 95 thesis.