I wouldn’t blame Catholicism for the IRA killing people.
This is one of the most widespread of relativist falsehoods!
It’s false because quite simply the IRA were not *Catholic *in outlook. They were a leftist driven nationalist organisation. They didn’t have a religious policy. It sprung out of organisations like that founded by people like James Connolly, an Irish socialist leader (
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Connolly)
“The Official IRA had an essentially Marxist approach”
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_IRA
Although the “Provisional” IRA split from them, they retained a democratic socialistic outlook. And even then "Sinn Féin never succeeded in attracting the majority of Catholic support while the IRA continued its campaign of violence: most Catholics voted for the Social Democratic and Labour Party, under Gerry Fitt and later John Hume. "
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinn_Féin
Also, note their current policies (tell me which ones are specifically ‘Catholic’)
"The 18 Westminster MPs to be allowed to sit in the Dáil Éireann as full Deputies,
Ending academic selection within schools,
Support for a ‘Minister for Children’
An ‘All-Ireland-Health-Service’ akin to the National Health Service in the United Kingdom,
Diplomatic pressure to close Sellafield nuclear power plant - which some citizens claim to be polluting Irish waters,
‘Plastic bag levy’ to be extended to the North,
Free breast screening (to check for breast cancer) of all women over forty - presumably in both Northern Ireland and the Republic,
Aiding the case for equal pay,
An end to ‘mass-deportation’ of asylum seekers across the whole of Ireland,
To further Irish language teaching in Northern Ireland,
Oppose all water charges,
An ‘all-Ireland’ economy with a common currency (again, no further description) and one tax policy,
Support for a ‘Minister for Europe’ - likely to be used in the Dail, and,
Greater investment for those who are disabled.
A vast majority of their policies are intended to be implemented on an ‘all-Ireland’ basis which further emphasises their central aim of creating a united Ireland.
(Ibid.)
And interestingly, in the footnotes of that page, it shows Catholics actually supporting the anti-Catholic bigot…" Ian Paisley in European Elections regularly attracted votes from the entirely Catholic Rathlin Island, while research showed Catholic support for then-UUP leader, David Trimble. In the 1990s, the UUP had a Catholic candidate, Sir John Gorman, elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly."
(Ibid.). That is to say, they voted on policy, not religion.
