Two comments about American support for the IRA and no replies to either. Lack of interest or shame ??



Come on Julian kick em while their down

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I could say something about the 600 years of occupation of their country by foreign troops, systematic starvation of their ancestors, deprivation of civil rights, suppression of freedom of religion, confiscation of lawfully-owned property, but in the true spirit of St. Patrick, I won't. I do not support the tactics of the IRA or Sinn Fein, but I have relatives who have been shot and terrorized by the Orangemen just for trying to hold down a job. It's not a one-sided issue as you seem to be trying to paint it. I'll just pray for the day all of Ireland will belong to the Irish again. No shame--I've never donated to Irish Northern Aid and never will.

Too drunk to post....

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William: (rudely interrupting) I have an offer for you.

Mornay: Cheltham, this is William Wallace.

Cheltham: (ignoring William) From which you will pay the king an annual duty--.

William: (interrupting Cheltham again) I said I have an offer for you.

Lochlan: (to William) You disrespect a banner of truce?

William: (to Lochlan) From his king? Absolutely. (to Cheltham) Here are Scotland's terms. Lower your flags, and march straight back to England, stopping at every home to beg forgiveness for 100 years of theft, rape, and murder. Do that and your men shall live. Do it not, and every one of you will die today.

Cheltham: (laughs) You are outmatched. You have no heavy cavalry. In two centuries no army has won without--

William: (shouting in anger) I'm not finished. Before we let you leave, your commander must cross that field, present himself before this army, put his head between his legs, and kiss his own arse.

Different Isle same problem...

Sorry, Russ. I have read that article twice through and quite work out whose what are down or why I should kick them.

To paraphrase tri_bri2:

I could say something about the terrorist activities of the IRA or Sinn Fein killing not only troops but women and children, murder of innocents such as Ennisklin all because of the religion you are born into or assumed to be in because of where they work or live but in the true spirit of St. Patrick, I won't.

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

What is the true spirit of St. Patrick?

St. Patrick's mission in life was the gathering of the Irish race into the fold of Christ--in other words, evangelism. Therefore, I think the true spirit of St. Patrick was one of teaching.

Patrick's primary mission for a large part of his life was to get the hell out of Ireland....a sentiment shared by countless generations since.

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"A society is defined not only by what it creates, but by what it refuses to destroy."
John Sawhill

Evangelist or Missionary? I believe the second to be the more realistic.

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

Evangelist or Missionary? I believe the second to be the more realistic.

What's the difference, in your view?

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

IN my view, flawed or otherwise, Evangelist is evocative of bible thumping businessmen asking for money to save your soul from the fires of hell and damnation. Missionary summons up people leaving worldly comforts to take the message of their religion to less fortunate or less developed countries winning hearts and minds with medicines, agricultural advances etc.

I'm sure there are good and bad examples in both camps, and it may be a matter of semantics but that is my athestic's view.

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

Ah. So to you, the word "evangalist" evokes images of Jim Baker, while a "missionary" is sort of a Peace Corps volunteer with a religious message. (I'm not being snide, I'm just asking if I'm reading you right.)

I don't think St. Patrick really fits all that comfortably in either of those two stereotypes, myself.

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

Pretty much.

My hazy recollection of the story is that Patrick was a monk (possibly Fransican) who sent to Ireland to spread the word of his Lord.

Tell you what let's both google St Patrick and come back and compare notes.

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"How bad can it be?" - SimpleS

I think you have to try to separate the term "evangelism" which really just means spreading the Gospel, from the term "televangelist" which generally seems to conote crookedness and the image of the traveling tent preacher selling snake oil.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

Tell you what let's both google St Patrick and come back and compare notes.

lol!

I don't need to google St. Patrick to know that he wasn't a Franciscan. Good grief- I thought you were in the UK. Surely the story of St. Patrick must be better known there.

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

Patrick was a slave captured in either Wales or Northern France....scholars are divided on where...taken to Ireland by pirates and sold into servitude. He tended sheep on a mountain called Slemish outside ballymena in Co. Antrim and after several years escaped.

As the story goes, he returned to Ireland several years later and converted the heathen population to Christianity using a shamrock to explain the holy trinity and then for good measure he chased away all the snakes to England where they formed the Conservative Party...I think the last part was made up.

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"A society is defined not only by what it creates, but by what it refuses to destroy."
John Sawhill