The Poison of Sectarianism in Scotland’s Independence Debate
MICHAEL J BLAIR
Perthshire, Scotland
Over the last three years, I’ve noticed the unpleasantness of sectarianism creeping into the independence debate here in Scotland.
There appears to be a divide between those who believe Scotland should be an independent country, and the people who would prefer to stay within the UK.
The anti-independence people are being dubbed royalists and followers of Glasgow Rangers, the football club which is mainly supported by the Protestant religion. This is of course utter nonsense.
The pro-independence support is being associated with the Catholic football team, Celtic’s fans. This is also complete bollocks.
There may well be a split in this particular direction, but not enough to allow the independence debate to be fought along ancient tribal lines. This is the last thing we want to see.
Just remember the horrors of Northern Ireland, between religious fanatics. Scotland as a whole, does not care about who worships where or what religion their next door neighbours follow.
The only place where this seems to matter, is the West coast of Scotland, especially in the Glasgow area.
I have never really understood why people want to harm each other just because of religious differences. We all have heart beats, and blood of the same colour running through our veins.
Of course, this isn’t confined to the Protestant and Catholic religions.
There are constant wars and violence associated with religious differences in many parts of the world.
The Muslim and Jewish religions have many similarities between them but they cannot get on with each other.
Some Muslims hate Christians for battles fought hundreds of years ago. The slaughter of innocent people goes on unabated in conflicts with no sign of resolution.
Tribal wars in Africa are usually fought along territorial lines, despite having plenty in common. Most of the violence is based on age old grudges which have nothing to do with life in the 21st century.
Turning back to the Scottish political scene, I would hate to think about the impact of sectarianism on the independence debate. Northern Ireland was ripped apart by this scourge for decades, and I can see all the ingredients for something similar happening here in Scotland.
There has been no official response to the obvious threats to the country if sectarianism is allowed to run unfettered across the Scottish political landscape.
This is not just the SNP ignoring reality, but all political parties seem to be in denial to the problems.
Typical of politicians, they will bury their heads in the sand until the situation is out of control.
Most people are sensible, and will not be dragged into something so dangerous, but others would be happy to fight for one side or the other.
Politicians allow situations like this to fester because they are mostly too afraid of being targeted by fanatics.
The Scottish government has been happy to see this split growing. They think they will benefit from the strengthening of views.
Unfortunately, they will incur the wrath of the general voting public, who have no interest in sectarianism.
It’s time for this to be halted before the west of Scotland becomes a mini Northern Ireland.
Follow The Party of Common Sense on Twitter, at @tpocs
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Michael J Blair contributes political analysis to DDA, and he can be reached at: michaelblair43@googlemail.com. His Twitter handle is: @mmjblair
[header photo courtesy of Ninian Reid; Wikimedia Commons]
I think this says it all
“The only place where this seems to matter, is the West coast of Scotland, especially in the Glasgow area.”
This is a myth, it affects all former mining areas of Scotland including West Fife, Stirlingshire, West Lothian, Mid Lothian, Eastern Lanarkshire, Edinburgh and Dundee where there were significant influxes of Irish in the 19th. century.
So you’re blaming the influx of Irish immigration into Scotland as the catalyst? Everywhere the Irish go, they bring sectarianism? Is that your view Clementine?