Dr Martin Mansergh“Religion is meant to inspire mankind to the highest purposes, not to lead to their diabolical perversion”, writes Dr Martin Mansergh
Five days after the horrifying tragedy in Paris on November 13, in which 130 people lost their lives in terrorist attacks by the so-called Islamic State on civilians enjoying a night out, Le Monde printed on its front page the dignified and moving reaction of Antoine Leiris, who lost his wife, Hélène Muyal-Leiris.
His open letter to the perpetrators read in translation: “On Friday evening, you stole the life of an exceptional human being, the love of my life, the mother of my son, but you will not have my hatred. I do not know who you are, and I do not want to know; you are dead souls. If this God for whom you kill blindly has made us in his image, each bullet in the body of my wife will have been a wound in his heart… Certainly, I am devastated by sorrow, I will concede you this little victory, but it will be of short duration. I know that she will accompany us every day, and that we will meet again in this paradise of free souls, to which you will never have access”.
A report in The Irish Times quoting this regrettably edited out all religious sentiments in the above which was a response to barbarous acts carried out in the name of religion.
Inevitably, several victims were Muslim. According to the Guardian, a message left outside a restaurant where diners were attacked, La Belle Équipe, read: “We are Muslim. You are terrorists and impostors.” A reason may be why Paris was a target was its attraction to Muslims, with the West held responsible for the Isis-perceived decadence of Islam (Alain Frachon, Le Monde, 20 November).
Indefensible
An interesting point was made by a US expert, H. A. Hellyer, writing in the Financial Times, about the absence of any central ecclesiastical authority in Islam “akin to, say, the Vatican”. As we know in relation to the Bible, especially parts of the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation, it can be dangerous to let sacred texts be interpreted subjectively and used to justify indefensible crimes.
Religion is meant to inspire mankind to the highest purposes, not to lead to their diabolical perversion. Where religion is being preached in a fundamentalist spirit that incites young people to commit mass murder, then it is an urgent matter to identify and close down the sources, especially those operating in host countries. Some of those sources were established with funding from wealthy Middle Eastern States. Greater dialogue between Christianity and Islam, as proposed by Pope Francis, is necessary.
Aside perhaps from lone deranged attackers, there is no such thing as mindless terrorism, even where the motivation is hard to understand. While all terrorist groups indulge in bombast that claims an exponential capacity to inflict further harm, the ideology used to attract recruits should be constantly analysed, to highlight dangers, as well as to identify ways of defusing threats.
There are, as we are frequently reminded, many causes of conflict, some historical, others contemporary, the political imbalance between Shia and Sunni Muslims in Middle Eastern countries since the Iraq war, as well as suburban ghettoisation in Europe. It is quite unrealistic, however, to expect nations which are brutally attacked to delay reacting. A country under concerted attack has to defend its people vigorously. As 9/11 showed, surprise can be achieved once, but after that vigilance is aroused and it is the attackers who find themselves on the defensive.
In Northern Ireland in the 1980s, the IRA did not make full use of the weaponry it imported from Libya, because they could anticipate the reaction it would cause. The so-called Real IRA never recovered from the devastating loss of civilian life caused by the 1998 Omagh bomb.
Ireland, for the moment, is not in the front line. Some of our citizens are in Europe’s major cities. An Irish couple were lucky to escape death at the Bataclan concert venue.
Neutrality
France has invoked the solidarity clause in the Lisbon Treaty, which obliges EU partners to assist in a manner consistent with their longstanding policy position, in our case military neutrality.
There is no doubt about the willingness of our Government in this regard. On the hard left, here and in Britain, there are reservations. When it comes to Israel versus the Palestinians, there is no pretence in those quarters of political neutrality. Even the staunchest critic of the US or former European colonial powers would be hard put to argue that the Irish people have more in common with the values of Isis than with those of the western world.
Our anti-colonial credentials, though real, can be exaggerated. While Ireland (like the US) revolted against being treated as a colony, and the war of independence marked a serious decline in the British Empire, our foreign policy since the mid-1950s has been more pro-western than non-aligned. Historically, up to 1918, Irish soldiers and sailors provided a disproportionate share of the manpower of the British Empire, not just confined to the officer class.
Wolfe Tone may have been the father of Irish republicanism, but only after a colonial scheme of his was ignored by British Prime Minister William Pitt. Not only John Redmond was tempted by the offer of partnership in the British Empire; it was implicit in Arthur Griffith’s Austro-Hungarian model.
The use of Shannon as a stopover for American troops is regularly raised, as if an international outrage is the right moment to withdraw facilities that have UN backing. Our military neutrality is a policy, the content of which is determined by the Government and the Dáil. Given the importance of US investment, no Government is going to terminate current arrangements regarding the use of Shannon.
In Europe, additional security spending will postpone balanced budgets. The Schengen Agreement, which abolishes Continental border controls, is under pressure, not just from migrants, of which France will take no more. Europe should again acknowledge and protect the Christian foundations of its civilisation.