Quote from: ballela-angel on January 11, 2014, 03:11:37 AM
In January 2012 I wrote this on another thread here on the board - I wanted to post it again, especially for the younger members of the board who did not experience the full brunt of Paisley's hatred - I did and I know we won't see the first part of the interview until Monday documentary, so comments about it must wait until it's aired - But I'd hope that what I have included below will help you avoid buying into any attempts he might make in re-writing history - When watching the show remember the sentence below where Leon Uris states that "If a man could be singled out as responsible for the tragic condition of Northern Ireland, no one has more to answer for than Ian Paisley"
"In 1973 Leon Uris, the author of Trinity, Exodus and some other notable novels wrote the text for a pictorial book his wife, Jill Uris was publishing entitled "Ireland – A Terrible Beauty" - In it he had the following to say regarding Ian Paisley "His most notable victory was attained in collapsing the O'Neil government over Civil Rights and getting himself elected to both Stormont and to Westminster. His political mentor, a standoffish barrister named Desmond Boal, cleaned up Paisley's act for the British Parliament; here he has shown himself to be a reasonable man with wit and mock candor that have hoodwinked thousands in Ulster, Britain and even Ireland. In support of a most remarkable Jekyll and Hyde charade, His Puritan Press runs overtime with a nonstop barrage of hate literature ............ Ian Paisley is not so naïve as not to learn from his chosen enemy. He has created his own papacy in some three dozen Free Presbyterian churches (Written in 1973, this number has grown significantly since then) ...... Paisley is the Moderator, a Protestant Pope complete with infallibility. Confession, the use of ministers in a role similar to that of Catholic priests, and many other adaptations are straight from Rome. He practices it all with a totalitarianism that few Catholic churchmen practice ........ If a man could be singled out as responsible for the tragic condition of Northern Ireland, no one has more to answer for than Ian Paisley"
I was very struck by that last sentence when I first read it many years ago because I knew in my heart that it was true
I had been aware of Paisley and his infant organization from the early 60's when he had "converted" a young Tyrone girl from Catholicism to his brand of Presbyterianism (I knew about it as I was friendly with one of the girl's neighbors) – During the Civil Rights area, I came to realize that Paisley was an evil person, especially after the incident at Burntollet Bridge – Ian Uris opens his piece on Paisley with this "The most diabolical by-product of three hundred and fifty years of the plantation of Ulster is a cancerous growth known as Paisleyism ....... Few men possess the power to hate with such magnitude, and more frightening, few have the energy and ability to transmit and infect fellow creatures with that hatred"
He was the best recruiting officer the Provos ever had.
