Troubles Between England and Northern Ireland Regarding Religion

Many if us who are not history buffs may not know about the conflict between Northern Ireland and England or the conflict more commonly known as the Troubles. The Troubles is the name that describes Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in reference to the most recent era of civil and political problems that no one can really pinpoint when the conflicts started but they still persist today. The term Troubles will also refer to the Anglo Irish War and the War of Independence from 1919 to 1921.

The issues or what history calls the conflict of Northern Ireland can be explained in ways of different constitutional aspirations from two of the main areas of the community in the region. Many of the Catholics considered themselves to be part of the Irish and the nationalists in the political outlook would love to see the entire nation of Ireland the Island of Ireland reunited and become separate from England.

The majority of Protestants did consider themselves to be British and are Unionist in the world of politics and their wish is for Northern Ireland to stay part of the union of the United Kingdom of Britain that includes England, Scotland and Wales. With the religion, political and cultured outlook back then, during the Plantation of Ulster in the 17th century the Scottish and the English settlers had moved to the north east of Ireland to seize ownership of the lands but the Protestants had very strong ties with both England and Scotland. It was the native Irish that were thrown off their land and the native Irish were Catholics.

Historians say that is really wasn't the religious aspects that was the deciding factor in the conflict of the people living in the area but there was a significance that it was used as a way to distinguish and discriminate between all of the sections in those communities. During this time it was the Protestants that ended up gaining wealth and land in the area. Through this conflict there were many different legislations that were brought forward as a way to take away some of the status from the Protestants. The conflict grew from there and these were the main factors in what was the civil rights movement that led to the emergence of violence.

This violence continued for many years but in 1997 was the second IRA ceasefire and the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998. In 1999 it was announced that the IRA was removing their armed campaign in the region and the agreed desolvedToday the area is still occupied with a majority of Protestants being 54% and 44 % were said to be Catholic. The Catholic community continues to increase but whether they will ever be the majority remains to be seen.

One of the major issues that are commonly shared by all nations is the intolerance of religions. Whose religion has to be better, whose religion is God's favorite, why doesn't your religion have a God, the world is a melting pot of religions and we all should respect everyone beliefs as long as no one is trying to force their beliefs upon other people then we should all have respect for everyone in the world. The world would be a better place of religion was a non-issue with everyone.