Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams issued his declaration that the IRA will now lay down their arms, and work for reconciliation of all sides, as he expressed sympathy for the victims of both sides. George Bush described this as a positive development, but said it must be followed up with a declaration to refrain from all criminal activities. Of course, this has been in the works for some time now, since Bill Clintons famour visit to Ireland, following his controversial decision to invite Adams to the White House. Still, Clinton proved wildly popular in Ireland, and he was able to initiate real dialoque, for the first time in 36 years of sectarian violence that has causd the loss of thousands of lives. The dialoque of course did not always go smoothly, as promises to disarm were met by skepticism, and apparrent breakthroughs in discussions ended at times in those talks being arbitrarilly cut off by one side or the other.
But, in the case of the Muslim declaration which came later, in roughly the same hour, in fact, there must be a real good faith effort to work toward these conciliatory goals. Words are well and good, but there must be honest effort on both sides.
Unfortunately, the insanity of religous bigotry has fueled this situation in much the same manner as it has propelled the Middle East toward the cauldron of hatred that it is today. However, my ancestors were from Ireland, so it tends to hit a little closer to home. And it makes me wonder, yet again, why is it religion that causes all this grief, all this turmoil, all this hatred? Would it be any different if the Irish were to suddenly, by and large, decide they would return to their ancient Celtic pagan roots? I know that would never happen, yet if a large enough percentage of them did so, who knows, they might set an example of sanity in the middle of madness. I could never understand why people would want to willingly embrace a religion that was foreign to them. One that can not, in fact, be anything but foreign. It's my honest belief that when a person returns to the pagan roots of their ancestors, and their old pagan deities, they will never turn away from them, unless they are forced to on the surface for economic or other such reasons. Even then, they will not turn away from them inwardly. But if all peoples could return to their ancient roots, they can not help but be in tune with their ancestry,their heritage, and thus their own spirits.
To do otherwise is to live an illussion. And it is unfortunatley in the case of Christianity, of most major denominations, an illussion of violence in the pursuit of so-called righteousness. The ends justifies the means. Look at what's going on in the Middle East. Then look at the situation in Ireland over the past 36 years, which is fueled to a great extent by the rivalry between Catholic and Protestant. There is scarcely any real difference between the two of them.
