Setting aside differences show maturity as a species

RELIGION TODAY - Published Saturday March 21st, 2009

I have an acquaintance whose father was an Orangeman.

See, I am writing this column on St. Patrick's Day and although you will not read it until Saturday, I thought it made an interesting jump off point.

For those who do not know, William III lived in the last part of the 17th century and early 18th. He was the Prince of Orange by birth.

From 1672 onwards, he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic.

In addition, from 1689 onwards, he reigned as King William III over England and Ireland and as King William II over Scotland. He is informally known in Northern Ireland and Scotland as "King Billy."

A Protestant, William participated in several wars against the powerful Catholic King Louis XIV of France in coalition with Protestant and Catholic powers in Europe. Many Protestants heralded him as a champion of their faith.

About 50 years later, the Orange Institution was formed in Northern Ireland, and then Scotland, and then most commonwealth countries like ours. It is also called the Orange Order, and the Orange Lodge. The hallmark of this organization is that they are fiercely Protestant.

Really, if you read the history, this Order was formed on the back of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland. Unfortunately, that conflict spilled over and, wherever it touched down, the Orange Lodge seemed to promote anti-Catholic sentiment.

It came to Canada in 1830 and Orangemen were active in the war of 1812 as well as the Louis Real Rebellion.

Anyway, from stories I have been told, we were not immune to the violence and often St. Patrick's Day was a time of rioting, hatred, and perhaps even murder.

Now, isn't it funny that almost no one today even associates St. Patrick's Day with Catholicism?

Sure, it is Irish, he was after all the patron saint of Ireland, but we are all Irish on St. Patrick's right?

Or at least we are all willing to pretend. Any reason to celebrate life is a good one; and any reason to eat corned beef, in my opinion, is a good one.

There are two conclusions to this. The first is that things change. Once upon a time Catholics and Protestants would have nothing to do with each other and now we participate in a lot of things together.

Once upon a time religious differences seemed to be the order of the day and more and more we are realizing that we all have an incredible amount of things in common.

I don't think this is a small-scale fad. I think it is development towards maturity as a species. We are coming to realize that some of the things that divide us are not so big as we might at first have thought. We are becoming capable of more empathy; perhaps because the margins of our world are getting closer. Nothing is as homogenous as it once was; most of us now know and regularly interact with people of different faiths, different races, different sexual orientation, different class, different languages and many other differences.

It is too bad that there are some areas where we find it harder; especially where the cultural divide is a little larger.

So for this month, I wish you all a Happy St David's, St. Piran's Day, and St. Patrick's Day (Christian). Happy Mawlid-al-Nabi -- (Muslim), which commemorates the birth of the Prophet Mohammed in about 570 C.E.; Happy Purim (Jewish), celebrating the deliverance of the Jewish people in the days of Queen Esther of Persia; Happy Magha Puja (Buddhist), which commemorates the occasion when the Buddha predicted his death and recited a summary of his teachings and a code of discipline; Happy Holi (Hindu) which begins with a bonfire to celebrate the death of Holika, the demon of winter; Happy Hola Mahalla (Sikh), the Festival of martial arts. And finally, Happy Nanakshahi (Sikh), the New Year which takes its name from Guru Nanak, who founded Sikhism.