The Church of Ireland primate, Dr Robin Eames, yesterday described as "deplorable" attempts in the North to categorise "a Yes vote as non-Christian and a No vote as Christian" in the forthcoming referendum.
The casting of one's vote according to conscience had nothing to do with the calibre of one's Christian profession, he said, and a Christian could vote Yes or No and remain a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.
In his presidential address to the Church of Ireland General Synod, which opened in Dublin yesterday, he described the Belfast Agreement as "a vital point in the Irish pilgrimage for peace", but said that what really mattered lay in the hearts and minds of the people of Ireland.
Recognising that there were those who wished the Church of Ireland would give "categorical indication" of how people should vote, he shared the view that this would be wrong. He urged church members, however, to understand the issues for and against, pray over them, consider how fair the proposals are to all sides, and to vote.
Addressing the matter of reconciliation he asked: "Isn't it true that the most positive, the best developments in human experience are believable mostly in retrospect, not in prospect?" It was much easier to look back on events and wonder why they proved difficult at the time than to look ahead and be "the confident prophet on their outcome".
He instanced South Africa and the perceived likelihood before April 1994 of "a fiercely protective white minority" giving over power to the overwhelming black majority and installing as President "a black leader with a record of 27 years imprisonment". And who, he asked, could have anticipated that in 1989 "a seemingly invincible communism would take a week to collapse".
Retrospect was the key to hope, he said, and to how we looked forward. Recent months had produced approaches to historic differences unimaginable a short time ago, he said. At the heart of the process of reconciliation lay the issue of what we do with our memories, "for memory can hold the real key to the present and the future".
Addressing the question of victims of the violence, he said that last week's announcement by the British government of financial assistance for them would have had far greater significance if it had been produced a long time ago. Describing the victims as "the forgotten people", he said they deserved to be recognised in much more tangible ways. He also pleaded with the government not to use the word "compensation" when considering needs in such cases. "Such terms seem to me to be totally inappropriate and insensitive," he said.
Turning to other issues, Dr Eames spoke of the crisis facing agriculture on the island, saying that the EU "Santer proposals in the recently published Agenda 2000 should give a clear indication that our rural population is afforded a reasonable opportunity to farm the land of their native island".
Agriculture, he said, was "the heartland of the Church of Ireland in the Republic", and the Synod could not ignore the concerns of "our farming communities, North as well as South".