A serving Presbyterian Moderator has for the first time participated directly in the West Belfast Festival. Rev Dr Ken Newell delivered a lecture yesterday during which he spoke of a new kind of Belfast, one free of sectarianism and prejudice.
Dr Newell counted it an "honour" to be the first serving Moderator to speak at the festival.
"I commend the organisers for the way in which the féile is gaining a deserved reputation for its inclusiveness," he said yesterday.
He described happy memories of his childhood in his native north Belfast, where he lived on the Shore Road.
His father was a fitter from Co Down, and his mother was from Co Mayo, who managed to run the family on £11 per week.
While admitting his love of Belfast, he also admitted that "Belfast frequently drives me crazy". It could look lovely when flying into the city's international airport, but once back on the streets it could "trigger off a mild depression" because of its less appealing side.
He took the audience through a series of "if onlys", imagined changes that would make the city a better place.
His first was if Belfast could become a city of friends, one free of sectarianism.
Community rituals had "planted in us an enemy-consciousness, unchallenged by the church and undented by education. The result was that we lived in an emotionally, culturally, politically and spiritually separate world."
The city desperately needed "friendship spaces" where its people could meet in a "flag-free zone".
The city was "plagued with sectarian graffiti on the walls of our buildings and, more difficult to remove, the graffiti on the walls of our minds".
While few in the city had escaped sectarianism's "hardening effect", he added that "thank God it can be treated".
He also imagined a city without racism, noting that the Guardian had labelled Belfast the "Race-Hate Capital of Europe" given the high incidence of racial attacks.
Racism in Belfast was "slowly being challenged", he added. "But we have a battle on our hands to turn this city into a city of welcomes, and when it comes to racism we're not playing for a draw."