Of all the gory, unpleasant and sometimes inexplicable stories of the Old Testament the attempted sacrifice of Isaac by his father, Abraham, at the behest of Jehovah always struck me as one of the most unattractive and puzzling. I could never comprehend how an all-wise and all-merciful God could inflict so sadistic a test upon his creatures. The human actors also placed me in a quandary, with the figures of the father, Abraham, apparently prepared to put his child to the knife, and of Isaac, to me the archetypal figure of innocence betrayed. God did, however, miraculously intervene in the biblical story to spare the life of the youth, but there was no such intervention for the three boys who lost their lives at Ballymoney last week.
It would be odiously presumptuous of me to offer to the Quinn family in their grief an image of their children's murder as some kind of holy sacrifice. Nevertheless it is true that their cruel end has, almost miraculously, and one hopes permanently, defused a highly dangerous and volatile situation at Drumcree and forced a new kind of moral leadership, even if very belatedly from church leaders and also from within the heart of Orangeism itself. It is a dreadful reflection upon all of us that it required the horrible manner of the murder of three small children to open up our hearts, but we owe it to them to ensure that these same hearts never close or become hardened again.
It is a tragic irony that these children were themselves the product of a complex and religiously mixed family background, and that a few hours before their untimely deaths they had been happily collecting firewood and playing around the site of a July 12th Orange bonfire with their Protestant neighbours.
As a member of the Church of Ireland, I have for many years been asking that the use of church premises for divisive sectarian functions, such as the unedifying spectacle that we have yearly been compelled to witness at Drumcree, should be forbidden. This now, at last, seems to be happening, and if so it is a good thing.
Nor was I the only one to repeatedly call into question the use of church property in the Orange interest. From within the Church of Ireland itself a group, including the former Dean of St Patrick's, the Very Rev Victor Griffin, the Rev Charles Kenny and Duncan Scarlett made a submission in January 1998 to the subcommittee on sectarianism established by the General Synod of the Church of Ireland .
The last paragraph of this report reads: "The Church at the 1998 General Synod should arrange as a matter of urgency for the formulation of a comprehensive strategy to combat sectarianism at all levels of Church life. The strategy should set detailed objectives to be achieved by given dates, provide for an organisational structure by which it is to be implemented, include regular monitoring of activities, arrange for annual progress reports to be made to the Synod and to supply a continuing budget for the task."
Sadly, although the matter was briefly discussed, nothing was done and the report was shelved for a year.
This little booklet, recently sent to me by one of the authors, goes to the heart of the matter in its opening sentences: "The hallmark of sectarianism is an obstinate and unreasonable attachment to a creed, opinion, party or ritual. Sectarianism manifests itself in varying degrees of intolerance towards those who are deemed not to `belong'. In Northern Ireland sectarianism is rife to the point of being endemic. It cuts people off from one another at almost every level of society, it has permeated social structures, it promotes discrimination and it has led to murder."
How tragically prophetic those words seem in the days following Ballymoney and how regrettable that last May's Synod should so cautiously have kicked to touch on the matter.
The authors are clearly right when they state that in Northern Ireland, the Christian churches reflect community decisions rather than transcend them and that with regard to the Orange Order itself there are several areas in which its philosophy is in direct conflict with the theological position of the Church of Ireland. The Church of Ireland, for example, has fully committed itself to the ecumenical movement, whereas Orangemen are forbidden even attendance at Roman Catholic services.
The pamphlet goes so far as to state: "we consider that the Church has compromised its witness to the Gospel in accommodating organisations like the Orange Order. At this stage in the development of Northern Ireland our equivocation is a shameful abrogation of our role as a Christian church."
If only this important document had at least been fully debated at the Synod in May we might not now be as rightly shamed as we are.
In the Anglican prayer book the communion service contains a summary of the law of God as follows:
"Hear what Our Lord Jesus Christ saith: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
One can, I think, legitimately question in what sense the Orangemen, insisting on their "right" to march along the Ormeau or Garvaghy roads were putting this into practice.
In what way were those Orangemen, who insisted on parading, with five of their bands blasting out loyalist tunes, past the very house in which a grieving mother stood vigil beside the coffins of her three murdered children loving their neighbours? When questioned, some of those responsible betrayed an amazing lack of imagination when they said that if the mother had asked them not to play their instruments they would have considered her request.
But then imagination, or even a sense of irony, are not strong suits apparently in Orange circles. Did not Ian Paisley start his political career by seeking to ban a nationalist parade from passing through a predominantly Protestant area very close to where the Quinn family subsequently settled?
Nor need we leave the New Testament lesson merely at the level of a general proposition. In St Luke's Gospel we can tell quite clearly what Christ's response would have been to the Garvaghy or Ormeau Road situations.
We are told there how, when their road was blocked by the Samaritans who refused them right of passage through Samaria, the disciples urged Jesus to teach them a lesson by seeking supernatural assistance to force their way through. His response was unequivocal. He abjured force and instead went quietly by an alternative route.
The message for Orange marchers who wish to follow the example of Christ is unambiguous. Unfortunately, many Orange people seem to be quite selective in their approach, not only to biblical but also to political and social matters.
We hear a great deal from them about freedom of speech and assembly and yet, in the aftermath of the Rev William Bingham's courageous call from within for a sense of decency and proportion, we had to witness on television how members of the Spirit of Drumcree faction responded with threats of abuse and physical violence to one who chose to exercise that very freedom of speech. The Spirit of Drumcree is malign, and the Orange Order will only recapture its dignity when that spirit is finally exorcised.
There is, it is true, a very substantial membership in the Orange Order and it would, I think, be unfair to demonise all who belong to the order. In James Joyce's story "Grace", mention is made of a Mr Crofton. One of the other characters objects: "But isn't he an Orange man?", to which Mr Kiernan responds: "Course he is, and a damned decent Orange man."
The greatest challenge facing us is not to excoriate these Orangemen but to try to assist them in the painful task of questioning and reassessing their beliefs. And question they must, for the flames that engulfed three children were first ignited at a July 12th bonfire, and the firework rockets, enjoyed on so many varied occasions by children and adults alike, became sinister weapons in the hands of those in Drumcree who filled them with shrapnel and fired them at the police.
Moreover, it is neither possible nor honourable for the Orange Order to disclaim responsibility for all violent action. They have continually created the context at least in which such violence was inevitable and politically expedient. Who can forget last year when an armour-plated earthmover was brought in and a petrol tanker stationed at the top of the hill at Drumcree so that it could be used as a mobile bomb against the security forces.
The horrors of Drumcree and Ballymoney have given space to courageous voices within the Orange Order and within the reformed churches in Ireland to speak out unequivocally. In this we need to help them.
I recognise, also, that in recent days both the Church of Ireland Representative Church Body and Archbishop Eames have spoken decisively. But why did this not happen earlier? A Northern member of the Church of Ireland on Tonight with Vincent Browne on Thursday said in answer to this that if the Archbishop had spoken out sooner "his mission would be reduced and he would become a man of no political consequence in the North".
Would such loss of political consequence have troubled Jesus Christ? It was even more important that Archbishop Eames speak out as he is not only the senior bishop of the Church of Ireland but also a member of the House of Lords. This is, in itself, an equivocal position. How would it have been perceived in the North if, for example, Cardinal Daly had been offered and accepted a seat in the Seanad?
I believe that the Church of Ireland, if it regains its prophetic vision instead of trimming its sails to fit in with the comfort of parochial prejudice, could play an important role. President McAleese has spoken of her presidency as one in which bridges are to be built. Within this island the Church of Ireland is vitally placed to provide just one such bridge.
Since the translation of the Roman missal into modern English and the modernising of Cranmer's Elizabethan prayer book there is scarcely a comma of difference separating the Anglican Communion and the Roman Mass. The Anglican Church sees itself as both Catholic and reformed. It, therefore, is uniquely placed to extend the hand of friendship and understanding to both Catholics and Dissenters.
In order to do so, however, it will clearly need to set its own house in order. Events such as the parade at Drumcree and the march along the Ormeau Road clearly provide a context in which violence and abuse are inevitable. The church must find the moral authority and the legal means to dissociate itself from such blasphemously unchristian behaviour. The thorny question of integrated schooling also needs to be revisited urgently.
Nor is the guilt all on one side. Protestant families have also been intimidated, murdered and burnt out. Intransigence is not the possession of loyalists alone. We are now, nonetheless, presented through tragic circumstances with an opportunity for advancing together into a better world for all and we will not be forgiven if we fail this challenge.