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Why the fierce struggle between Catholics and Protestants in
Northern lreland? Large-scale rioting, bombings and burn–
ings continue . Why such hatred among peoples professing
Christianity?
by
Raymond
F.
McNair
Belfast, N. Ireland
T
ODAY'S WORI..O IS DEEPLY DIVIDED.
Nowhere in Europe is that
divi–
sion
more apparent than right
here in Northern Ireland!
A Threefold Problem
In
Northem Ireland three explosive
ingredients -
reli¡!)On, politirs
and
race
-
are combincd in very dangerous
proportions!
There are, of course,
economic
and
social
factors, the
cit,i/ rights
movement,
and Jingering
histo1'ical
antagonisms.
But the real roots of today's Irish trou–
bles burrow clown deeply into the
feli–
gioJIJ, politiral
and
ethnir
dements in
lreland.
Can Ireland's decp-seated problems
be solved by the leaders in Belfast, Loo–
don or Dublin?
Recently, 12,000 British troops were
assigned to keep Catholics and Protes–
tants from tearing each other apart.
British government officials still keep a
close watch on Ulster, trying to make
sure this sccthing caldron of strife
doesn't boíl over. Already, hundreds of
houses, pubs, factories, stores, offices
and other ·places of business have bcen
burned out. Hundreds have been made
homeless and severa! have died.
But why? What's behind all this
trouble?
D ifference Between " lrish"
and "Scotch-Irish"!
Many in America and the Com–
monwealth trace their lineage directly
back to the
Scotch-Irish
of Northern
Ircland or to
Irish
stock of Southern
Ireland.
There is much confusion regarding
Ambassador
Collogo
Phato
the distinct
differenres
between the peo–
ples of the original
búh
and
Scotch–
hish
(
called. Ulster Scots in Britain).
The late President Kennedy's family
were from Southern
lrish
stock. He was
thc only U. S. President to be of Irish
ancestry.
But at least eleven U. S. Presidents
- Jackson, Polk, Buchanan, Andrew
Johnson,
W/.
H. Harrison, Grant,
Arthur, Cleveland, Benjamín Harrison,
McKinley and Woodrow Wilson -
trace their anceslry
directly
back to
Scotrh-lrish
(
or Ulster-Scot) deseen
t.
Six others - John Adams, Monroe,
John
Q.
Adams, Taylor,
L
B. Johnson,
Nixon - have surnames common among
thc Scotch-Irish. Four presidents with–
out Scottish namcs - Jeffcrson, Teddy
Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower -
claimcd part Scottish or Scotch-Irish
ancestry.
Many Irishmen tell visitors they can
usually distinguish between a Southern
Irishrnan and a Scotch-Irishman from
Ulster. There are, in other words,
marked
ethnic
differences bctween the
Irishman and the Scotch-Irishman.
Besides the differences in ethnic