Losing Our Religion

[ian1964 10,474]

by Bill McMurdo CRO Contributor

 

Scottish society in the 21st century is a strange place to be in for people above a certain age.

 

People over the age of 40 will remember a time when men were men i.e. when football reflected culture in that it was more rugged and masculine.

 

Up until the last couple of decades, football was a male-dominated sport, mostly attended by men.

 

Back when I was younger, the Old Firm encounter was about a ninety minute emotional rollercoaster where you screamed abuse at the opposite end till you were hoarse. Then you went home, either glowing because you had beaten the enemy or in the depths of gloom because you hadn't. A draw sent both sides into a big collective sulk.

 

If you were a Rangers fan, you would roar "****** b******s" and they would roar back "Orange b******s" for the couple of hours you were in the cauldron of the stadium.

 

You meant every word because you were re-enacting the Battle of The Boyne and the Siege of Londonderry all over again. You were standing with Protestant heroes of the past in the ongoing struggle with popery.

 

Celtic fans had their own legends to associate with.

 

Then, when the final whistle blew, you went home. Back to the real world of Catholic neighbours and workmates, where ninety-minute bigots became friends and neighbours once more as if some trance had been shaken off.

 

Religion played a big part in the whole thing.

 

Of course, it was always much more about culture than theology. Real Protestants have always been much thinner on the ground than those whose only sight of an open Bible was in the annual Orange Parade.

 

But essentially Rangers versus Celtic was a religious clash.

 

Billy v Dan.

 

Proddy v Tim.

 

That was the real world back then and people just accepted it.

 

Back when men were men and could cope with societal realities that might not have been ideal but were accepted with mature understanding.

 

Was there religious hatred? Absolutely.

 

Was a lot of it all rather silly? Of course.

 

But is it better than the world of today where the authorities try to create a society by denying realities such as the religious cultural divide and slap ridiculous punishments on people who won't join them in their fantasies?

 

As one who can remember a world where people just accepted they were different and why they were different, I say it was.

 

I don't want to go back to singing about being up to my knees in ****** blood and I don't envisage myself riding behind Prince William on the green grassy slopes when Rangers play Celtic.

 

But that's not the same as accepting that my culture is wrong, which is precisely what the PC social engineers want me to believe.

 

Like many Rangers fans, I was brought up in the Protestant, Unionist Loyalist tradition and ethos.

 

I won't have anyone tell me that equals bigot and sectarian, either from the "other" side or handwringers from my own. I am aware of the faults of my own community but it is still my community.

 

My own view is not that religious or cultural differences have no place in football - it is that hatred has no place in football.

 

I mean hatred based on race or creed.

 

The problem in Scotland is that the Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist community has allowed itself to be demonised,

 

We have accepted the ridiculous notions of political correctness and thus seen our values eroded and vilified.

 

It is no coincidence that the same root Latin word appears in both the word "Protestant" and "testicle."

 

It is the word teste.

 

Our community has lost its testes by allowing ourselves to lose our religion.

 

I appreciate not every Rangers fan is a Protestant in terms of faith.

 

As I have said, few proddies are, in fact, Protestants in terms of being evangelical Christians.

 

But there is a Protestant culture from which the vast majority of Rangers fans derive identity.

 

All this was just accepted by people until fairly recently.

 

Now the Billy v Dan concept is treated as criminal by our authorities.

 

The biggest problem about all this is something not understood by the Tarquins who read The Herald and who want a "more progressive society." And an Old Firm game devoid of any religious concepts.

 

It is something that the men who followed Rangers and Celtic decades ago did understand only too well.

 

It is this: the ninety minute cauldron of the Old Firm encounter was a release valve for the tension of living in a mixed society.

 

Rangers v Celtic provided that release valve and people knew this.

 

Back in the days when men were men.

 

Before the handwringers took over.

 

The frightening thing is that the more these handwringers and social engineers try to legislate the divide away and police the thought lives of people, the more bitter the divide will become in society.

 

That's what's happening today in Scotland.

 

Maybe we will return once more to the days when, as Rangers and Celtic supporters, our cultural and religious differences can be embodied and expressed in our favourite team - and fought over in a ninety minute contest, with all the political baggage put away.

 

Billy v Dan.

 

Proddy v Tim.

 

And us all man enough - yes, even the ladies - to accept that's exactly what it is.

 

And no hate in it, either.

 

Of course, the Old Firm encounter is only a possibility in cup competitions for a while.

 

Which is, itself, the evidence that the relationship between Rangers and Celtic has become so toxic they are literally polarised in the game, with the most poisonous atmosphere ever between the fans.

 

Those who railroaded through the anti-sectarian legislation refused to listen to the advice they were given, advice which is scarily becoming prophetically true: the more you try to legislate on religious differences, the more bitter you will make those differences.

 

In a nutshell, you won't make people lose their religion by telling them it is criminal.

 

God Himself understands that when you tell people "Thou shalt not," you are setting them up to fail.

 

Scotland won't become less of a culture of hate because of anti-sectarian legislation; it will become more so.

 

And anyone who thinks they can "lose the religion" from Rangers v Celtic games has lost their marbles.

[andy steel 0]

If I wanted someone lecturing me on what I ought to believe at the weekend, I'd wander into the local RC chapel.

[GovanAllan 0]

Not getting involved with this debate again, we only end up going round in circles. As I've said I'm happy in my skin, if others don't like that and want to call me a bigot then they have the problem not me.

 

But I will say he got it spot-on with the 90 minute release valve and away home you go, we can thank Salmond and his posh ninja stormtroopers for the death of that concept. Shower of no use twats the lot of them.

[RANGERRAB 3,336]

An excellent article as usual by Bill McMurdo.

Very true we have allowed ourselves to be demonised. We now live in a country where we cannot sing certain songs at our matches but our chums from the east end can sing all sorts of songs in praise of terrorists not to mention displaying certain banners. What sort of legisalation allows that ? Do our police forces think this is just ? or do they now have allegiances we should be told about ?

In this country I see big, big trouble in the not too distant future unless these inconsistencies are addressed.

Edited October 13, 2012 by RANGERRAB

[Cotter 0]

Going to Ibrox to re-enact the Battle of the Boyne am I? This muppet is our Phil 3 names. Stick it up your arse mate.

[Zappa 0]

Bill McMurdo is hitting the nail on the head in this article with regards to the new legislation and the reverse psychology involved.

 

They've been printing "THESE WILL FUCKING KILL YOU" and variations of that on cigarette and tobacco packaging for a long, long time now and it doesn't stop people buying the killer product. Anti-drugs campaigns have been around since well before any of us were even born, but they generally have the opposite from desired effect.

 

It's quite widely accepted that telling a child or young teenager not to do something will result in them doing it, so I don't really understand the point of the new legislation considering the amount of youngsters getting into the footy every year.

 

I think that's maybe where Bill McMurdo stops short a bit in the article because it's possible that the actual idea of the new legislation is to create MORE hate and MORE divide in our society.

 

It doesn't always cross our minds to think about this sort of thing, but there might actually be people in very high places who specifically want our society divided. The idea of everyone getting along famously and all being friends would be repulsive to such people.

Edited October 13, 2012 by Zappa

[andy steel 0]

It doesn't always cross our minds to think about this sort of thing, but there might actually be people in very high places who specifically want our society divided. The idea of everyone getting along famously and all being friends would be repulsive to such people.

 

I will admit that never crossed my mind.

[Zappa 0]

I will admit that never crossed my mind.

 

I'm sure you know fine well that it's called 'divide and conquer' or 'divide and rule' Andy.

[andy steel 0]

By whom?

 

Are we talking the SNP or the RC church here?

[Zappa 0]

By whom?

 

It suits multiple parties (not necessarily political as in 'SNP') for Scottish society to have a huge divide/rift, so it's not an easy question to answer.

 

I'm just throwing out a "what if" scenario with regards to the legislation, but there's other possibilities worth consideration too....