Today is the 12th of July!
Here in Northern Ireland thousands of people take to the streets to “celebrate” the “Glorious Revolution (1688) and victory of Protestant king William of Orange over Catholic king James II at the Battle of the Boyne (1690).” (from wikipedia)
In recent years an effort to make the whole thing a lot more cultural and a lot less sectarian led to a name change.
We all know that calling it ‘Orangefest’ takes the sectarian edge of it! Perhaps if they gave out free oranges to everyone? Or dressed up as Oranges? Promoted a national culinary delight created from oranges that we could all enjoy during the holiday period? Im clutching at straws…….
I watched “the 12th” once when i was still a child and i vowed to never endure it again!
I may often say i don’t care about it or i’m indifferent to the whole thing but if i am honest, i do care.
I care about something that gets labelled as ‘Christian’ and is clearly not. I care that many ‘Christian leaders’ from many Churches still join in and do not see the terrible influence they are having. I care that thousands of men & women think their parading and “celebrations” have God’s endorsement! I care that these things all add to the undercurrent of sectarianism that is evident in the “Protestant Churches” here in Northern Ireland.
Last year Gary Boal said this;
“Today on the 12th of July i’d ask you to bow your knee & worship the One True and Only Worshipful Master; Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God.” (read the full post here)
Even if you hate everything else i just said, at least know this….
One day you will bow your knee before God, and whether you were ‘Orange’ or ‘Green’ in this life will NOT matter! God does not support your cause no matter how much you name drop Him!
Orange…………..Jesus was and is NOT!
I think the 12th is a cultural, and historic thing, and there is every right to celebrate it, I love the bands, and watching them.
However, I do hate the fact that it is claimed as ‘Christian’, cultural yes, but Christian, no. I also hate the bigotry and hatred that surrounds the whole thing. Like the burning of tricolours on the bonfires etc I think is ridiculous….
But I do still enjoy a band parade… working today though…
I hear ya, i actually don’t know what the answer is but i feel something has to change in the hearts of so so many people for it to be acceptable – at least thats how i see it
The whole thing still incites riots, police officers being shot, flag burning, etc etc
Its hard for me to see how that can evolve into something cultural that can actually be accepted & enjoyed by our entire society
How anyone can support a “celebration” that causes some people to be afraid to leave their own homes is beyond me. All it is is an excuse for a massive knees-up for Protestants and there’s nothing remotely religious about it. While I have noticed a change in that it is now being advertised as a “festival” and there is much less trouble year after year, it is still mostly about provocation of “the other side” and something I try my very best not to associate myself with.
‘The whole thing still incites riots, police officers being shot, flag burning, etc etc’
‘All it is is an excuse for a massive knees-up for Protestants and there’s nothing remotely religious about it’
exactly… that’s what happens, but it exactly what it shouldn’t be, and it needs to move away from that, towards a day that can be enjoyed by everyone on all sides of the community,
There are plenty of people, familys from different sides of the community, who go out for the day, have some lunch, enjoy the bands and stuff, and that is all it is to them.
That side of things never makes the news, because the media in NI prefer to focus on the violence side of things.
Great post
Totally agree that the Church (Christians) of N.Ireland should really think about the whole thing and the dangers of it.
OK someone should probably put the case for the defence of the Orange Order and as a someone who has recently joined it and took part in my first Twelfth demonstration yesterday I’ll make a start….
I’m not sure how the event is “clearly not Christian” – the main event at the field in Ahoghill and elsewhere was a religious service (with an excellent sermon in the case of Ahoghill at least) or where the assumption that parading and Twelfth celebrations have God’s endorsement come from – in my case what I did yesterday has God’s endoprsement no more so that what I will be doing today (shopping). Most concerning comment to me – how the Order contributes to “to the undercurrent of sectarianism that is evident in the “Protestant Churches” here in Northern Ireland”. One of the reasons I finally joined was that the treatment of the loyal orders by our own congregation was sectarian – I’m lost as to how the Order(s) make the protestant churches appear sectarian? I wouldn’t or couldn’t dispute that the percetion of the Order particularly among the other community (whether that be Catholic by religion or nationalist by politics) may be that it is a sectarian organisation but it was once the case that the Christian church was perceived to be a front for cannibalism and that wasn’t true either.
The Order like every church is not perfect and one of the reasons I had not joined it before now as that I felt it was not trying hard enough to fix the problems – over the last number of years many of the most fundamental issues have been tackled and although it is a work in progress I felt that a sufficient number of the issues had been dealt with to allow me to join and help fix the rest from within rather than without.
In relation to the comments I do not support the burning of tricolours on bonfires and the Order is on record as condemning this but the Order has nothing to do with Eleventh Night bonfires at which I have never seen an offical Order involvement. Indeed some of my own lodge members were going to clear up bonfire sites after the parade yesterday. To blame the Order for the unacceptable behaviour which goes on there is like blaming the church for the commercialisation of Christmas, they are both related to the same celebration but have nothing to do with each other.
As for the rioting and police offciers being shot this was related to Eleventh night bonfires and with the exception of trouble in Ballybeen on Saturday night carried out by dissident republicans who used the opportunity to promote their own agenda. If this can be used as a justification for getting rid of the unrelated parades I’m turning up at Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge for the first two home games of next season staring a riot and hoping that as a result both Chelsea and Man U are (completely unjustifiably) thrown out of the Premier league (Let’s face it I have do the same thing at at least half a dozen other grounds as well before Liverpool stand any chance of winning the title).
The Order is not perfect and like every church is afflicted by people who join because of what they believe it stands for not what the Order actually stands for (remember that the leadership of the Order stood with the catholics at Harryville on the basis of religious and civil liberties for all not with the protestors)……
I hope this doesn’t sound like a rant, it’s not meant to but the Order has suffered for a long time from a probem about how it is percevied which has to a greater or lesser extent been self inflicted and it is the job of its genuine members, like the church, to correct what is wrong with the Order and just as importantly point out how the perception of it is wrong…..
Gotta say Peter that i appreciate your comments
I think i know we will fundamentally disagree about these things – the role of the orange order, the ‘celebration’ of the battle of the boyne etc etc.
The one thing i want to mention though, is the ‘undercurrent of sectarianism’ i refer to……i totally agree that our own congregation handled the ‘orange/black situation’ horribly – or at least some of them did – but the undercurrent i continually see, is the same as the undercurrent of racism that exists in ‘white lower to middle class christianity’ – it gets confused with standing up for our ‘rights.’ It gets confused with our belief that we have the truth of the Bible and as a result can exert our opinions on everyone, both politely and otherwise!
Perhaps that is where my ‘God’s endorsement’ comment came from – i am sure you rubbed shoulders with folks yesterday who would happily say ‘For God & Ulster’ given the right circumstances…….
I think this attitude is still rife in our communities & especially in North Antrim – i know it is
Like i said at the start though, i think we will just not agree about a lot of things surrounding these issues and i do not want to offend you – you are an intelligent guy and i know you would not take your involvement lightly so id prefer to respect that.
The Orange Orader has more to do with Free Masonary, then it does have do do with God, just look as the symolism and distorted refrences to God. I’m glad to see at least that Supersimbo is not ignorant of something thats blatantly not Godly. How are Catholics supposed to react when the word of God is distorted.
This is not Christianity. Being brought up in a mixed marrige has allowed me to see that both sides are a bad as eachother. This is about mankind, and promotes division, which has nothing to do with Christian unity.
I don’t usually respond to anonymous commenters but – mmm, thanks for commenting anyway……
I think the following quote by Tim Keller has something to say to the whole Prod/Orange/Brit thing… “Cultural narrowness cannot coexist with the gospel of grace. They are mutually exclusive.”
Personally from my experience of almost 4 years of serving God and people in the West of Ireland one of the biggest barriers to The Gospel here is the whole Prod/Orange/Brit thing that is merged with large sections of evangelical christianity in Norn Iron. Many Northern Irish evangelicals have pointed the finger at the idols etc in the RC church, but there are idols of the prod/orange/brit kind in our own tradition that need to be addressed first perhaps. Can be a case of planks and specks.
The Gospel belongs to no culture, but it’s for every culture…
Thanks John
Your experience/location and others like it are helpful – i sometimes wish more people would hear/recognise/understand it from that point of view…..
The protestant mind-set of ‘we are right’ gets in the way though – being right brings much ego and much selfish pride
Yea I think that ‘we are right’ thing gets in the way in my own life all too often…