Is the Northern Ireland conflict “identity-based”?
It has a large degree of identity-based emotion in fueling the conflict. In a recent World War II history which covered U.S. troops stationed in Northern Ireland before the D-Day invasion U.S. troops were warned never to discuss religion with any of the residents, because of the hostility between Catholics and Protestants. Orange clubs were social and political clubs whose membership was restricted only to Protestants. Often hiring in industry, the trades and even government was based on how you identified yourself in regards to religion. In a famous murder the victims were killed simply because they were the bartenders in a bar identified as a “Catholic bar.” While I understand that things are much better now than during the height of “The Troubles” there are still problems. With my experience as a United States citizen living in a town where relations between the members of the various Protestant churches and the Roman Catholic Church are excellent, I find it incomprehensible in a lo
