Jeffrey, Lord Knight of the Lagan Valley Round Table, Stout Defender of the White Elephant and the Orangest of all our beloved Monarch's Loyalist Oranges, requests your ears:
"In this year of our Lord,Sixteen Hundred and FiveTwo Thousand and Nine, it is quite clear to me that them there Romanist scoundrels still cannot be trusted to govern Our Realm in the Christian Faith, the One and Only True Faith, the one handed down to us by the Reformed Martyrs- Cranmer, yer man in Scotland, er...and all the others.
I beg Sire therefore your indulgence to plead "No!, Nay!, Never!" to this traitorous and heathen motion.
God Save the Queen, Rem 1690, Vote Lady Dodds No1 and Rangers for the League."
Almost unbelieveable. Unfortunately it's only an "almost".
11 comments:
Jeffrey seems to have surrendered game, set and match to the worst stripe of DUP nutterdom.
Maybe Donaldson should be sent a history of Saxony (but no doubt that might recieve a rant about the Somme and all that) where the monarch was a Catholic in an overwhelmingly protestant country.
Whilst the Saxon monarchy gave shelter to Luther and stopped him from being barbequed for heresy, a few generations later Augustus the Strong converted to Catholicism so he could be elected king of Poland.
The family remained Catholic after that but Augustus and his descendents never meddled with the religious settlement. Indeed it was Augustus who had the famous Frauenkirche commissioned to show he was adamant about protecting protestantism - whilst at the same time building himself a Catholic cathedral next door to the palace.
Most people hear would not imagine early 18th century south-east Germany as a bastion of tolerance!
The sad thing is that, despite the most recent evidence to the contrary, Jeffrey doesn't belong to the Village Idiot wing of the DUP. I reckon this is a carefully calculated ploy to recapture some of the Prodiban vote lost to the TUV. The fact that unlike eg Willie McCrea, he knows better makes it all the more reprehensible.
Aberdonian
"Religious tolerance" is very much an elastic concept on DUP land- ask any N.Irish girls forced to flee to England for an abortion or anyone from the N.Irish homosexual community targeted by Iris Robinson for "correction" therapy.
That a public representative like Donaldson would seek to rekindle to ancient prejudices for political gain is a matter for great regret. By appealing to the latent 'no-popery' among his more entrenched constituents he is clearly endeavouring to 'out-Prod' his far-right rivals, such as the TUV. An elected representative is charged with representing the entire community, not just one section of it. How can he do that when he thinks that one-half of that community is disloyal and incapable of bearing civil allegiance? The charge that Catholics are Rome's Third Column is one that been historically used to rationalize some of the most dehumanizing and oppressive pieces of legislation ever conceived by man. Donaldson's adherance to such religious bigotry renders him unfit to be an MP. The DUP should get rid of him.
hey O'Neill I'm a regular reader of your blog - keep up the good work! Also check out my article: "America should stay out of Irish affairs" at http://tnjn.com/2009/mar/27/america-should-stay-out-of-iri/#comment-7566641
CO
Don't disagree with a word you said- can't imagine Anne Widdecombe, to give but one example, will be delighted to have her patriotism called in question because of her religious beliefs...but:
"The DUP should get rid of him."?!!
This is the same DUP we're talking about here?! They'll probably promote him!
Andrew,
Thanks and well done on a good article , I'll give it a wee bit more publicity this week.
I know the Act of Settlement issue is actually meaningful to Catholics in Scotland and Ulster but... why does this need to be tinkered with now?
Surely our supine legislature has more things to be getting on with? And anyway, I think it's rather quaint. No-one takes it seriously in most of the UK apart from a few sectarian meatheads.
I know the Act of Settlement issue is actually meaningful to Catholics in Scotland and Ulster but... why does this need to be tinkered with now?
The reason why it's been dealt with now have more to do with party politics, especially in Scotland. However, surely you wouldn't argue that elements of the Act are discriminatory? And any Act which discriminates on grounds of race/religion should, for moral reasons if no other, be ammended.
Late in the day I know but:
If you want unbelievable then look at this nugget from the "eccentric" hardline Scottish Catholic unionist Martin Kelly in his defence of the Act:
http://martinkelly.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-couldnt-put-it-better-myself.html
In response to hardline equally "eccentric" hardline English (well half-Scottish) Catholic unionist David Lindsay:
http://davidaslindsay.blogspot.com/2009/03/leaving-things-settled.html
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