THE Presbyterian moderator, Dr Harry Allen, has condemned last weekend's loyalist picketing of Catholic churches in Ballymena and Bushmills as "unjustified and un-Christian". He said the pickets were "denying the religious liberty that those picketing are demanding".
Dr Allen also said, however, that "the greater concern in places like Dunloy" was that ordinary Presbyterian worshippers going to church on Sunday mornings were often being "subjected to abuse and taunts that make life most difficult".
The moderator was speaking to the Irish Association in Dublin yesterday on his future hopes for Ireland. He said "the events of the weekend in Bushmills and Ballymena, when Catholic churches were picketed, may have been a result of the frustration felt about the opposition to church parades in places like Dunloy and Bellaghy".
He told of Presbyterians in Dunloy, a majority Catholic village north of Ballymena in Co Antrim, who were taunted by local Catholics with the words "The manse is closed, the sexton's house is closed and the church will close." He called on the Catholic authorities in the Dunloy area to deal "seriously" with this matter.
Referring to the events at Drumcree, Dr Allen, who is a native of Portadown, said. "The Protestant feeling was that far too many concessions were being made to republican elements without any reciprocation.
"The fear that they were fast approaching a bridge too far led to the second stand off at Drumcree in July. Where the blame for the outcome really lies will be the subject of discussion and argument for years to come."
Dr Allen said the parades issue raised the problem of consent. "This seems a simple affair, but in reality it is saying that certain groups can `own' certain streets and areas. This cannot be the case. In sensitive areas, people can reach sensible decisions by mutual, mature discussion."
He went on. "The spate of boycotting has been excused as punishing those who manned the barricades during the Drumcree stand off, but the truth is that in small towns and villages where Protestants are in the minority, sinister forces are creating conditions where every Protestant in business is being targeted."
He said this led to the counter threat of boycotts of Catholic businesses, and he had seen posters in Portadown calling for this. "This must be ended immediately, and every person politician, clergyman leader and neighbour must actively work to that end."
Dr Allen said he longed to see people able to celebrate their culture without dissension and without triumphalism. I long to see people recognise that every person born in this land, or coming to its shores in search of hope and new life, can be recognised as a citizen without diminution of his or her status on grounds of religion and culture".