Headline in the Sunday Telegraph yesterday - " Roman Catholics have overtaken Anglicans as the country's dominant religious group. More people attend Mass every Sunday than worship with the Church of England, figures seen by The Sunday Telegraph show. This means that the established Church has lost its place as the nation's most popular Christian denomination after more than four centuries of unrivaled influence following the Reformation ".
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=TK1MI4ELYLFQJQFIQMFSFGGAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2007/12/23/nchurch123.xml
Now I am not religious in anyway myself and this obviously raises questions regarding the banning of the Royal Family from marrying a Catholic ( not that anyone of this forum will be effected by this, but it IS sectarian in principle. I just wonder if the south had a similar law on the head of state been a Catholic, we'd never hear the end of it ::) )
But more importantly, for the unionists, with Britain losing it's ' Protestant ' identity and a growing nationalist/Catholic population in the north, no matter what the public face they present, do they secretly/quietly acknowledge that the tide of time and history is coming in for them or is it the same old " NEVER, NEVER, NEVER " rhetoric ? ?
We'll out breed the bastards, and if not that, then we'll just import the Catholics from Eastern Europe! ;D
Nollaig Shona Everyone.
QuoteWe'll out breed the bastards, and if not that, then we'll just import the Catholics from Eastern Europe!
Indeed. I read somewhere recently that the population of Norn Iron had increased by 110,000 since 2000. This has been attributed mainly to the influx of people from Eastern European countries, mainly Poland. The same article also contained the information that 80% of the migrant workers were Roman Catholic.
Now after working for a specific period of time in the north, these people will rightly be entitled to a vote in upcoming elections. Now, it is not fair to say that because they are Catholic they will be in favour of a United Ireland, but it does throw an interesting light on future elections. Obviously the Unionists are concerned by this, going by the recent rantings of Sammy Wilson on BBC breakfast radio a couple of months back, when he stated that people coming from Eastern Europe should not have an automatic right to vote in Norn Iron, even if they work in the 6 counties for 10 years or more.....another attempt at manipulating the vote in favour of the union. Their days are numbered! ;D
Interesting times ahead. :o
Is this not in complete contradiction to this article on the BBC website (you need to scroll to the bottom)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7157998.stm