Bottom line is ,i can walk anywhere in my county or neighbouring counties wearing my Dublin jersey without being concerned for my safety.( Maybe a bit of banter ,but that is as extreme as it gets) The same can be said for every other GAA supporter in the south.
To us we put on our Gaa attire jump on bus ,train or walk to grounds and only concern is the game. A hell of a lot of GAA supporters in the North dont have that luxury , so its understandable when a scumbag from a loyalist area stabs a guy wearing a Gaa top to be infuriated when people in the south from the luxury of their laptops suggest it nearly was the victims fault and they should be more careful. I think Tune would be different if it was one of their family or a friend that it happened to.

AthCliath (Dublin) - Posts: 4347 - 24/01/2015 15:59:02    1686036

Thankfully I have only ever had a positive experience when wearing a GAA Jersey....I was stopped years ago walking down 5th Ave in Manhattan by a woman who said her mother came from Achill but I am sure I was not the first or last Irish person for this to happen. Have driven my MO registered car into Belfast and wore a Jersey on day and got some slagging from a few lads which was all in good fun as they were wondering if we needed help lifting the curse.

Friends of mine were told to f&*k off back to paddyland by some people in Edinburagh once when they were walking home from Gaelic Football training. You have ignorance and bigots everywhere but they are in the minority and should not be given the time of day.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11236 - 24/01/2015 16:24:21    1686048

Ath Cliath that's exactly it. I can't adequately articulate how you feel when your innocent 7 year nephew who never has GAA gear off his back gets out of the car to go into a cafe in Armoy (Joey Dunlop motorbike territory) then runs back "Do I need to put my coat on?" ...likely a O'Neills coat too but..
To be told to turn your radio down while cleaning a car listening to a Hurling match for fear of offending anyone is also depressing.

Important that people are aware this is the main walkway for anyone going for a walk/run along the river.

Yew Tree - yes there is sectarianism everywhere but unfortunately a border was drawn around the O6C's preserving sectarianism indefinitely.

Tyronetim (Tyrone) - Posts: 1254 - 24/01/2015 17:02:05    1686056

Htaem
County: Meath
Posts: 6025

1685958
I'd love to see the day when religion is absent from this planet permanently and superstitions no longer cause divisions.

For me as an atheist all religion is nonsense but I do respect people's freedom to practice is privately, but once it's starts causing division and worse still violence, then we have a serious problem, keep religion out of schools, keep it out of constitutions and please keep it to yourselves.

I disagree,

I long for the day where people's diverse beliefs are respected rather than attacked and Scrutinized/criticized. I can respect and accept people of various religious beliefs or Indeed atheism, but I also have enough kop on to know and accept that people react angrily to attacks on what they believe and hold dear.

You shouldn't attack something simply because it goes against your own personal beliefs specifically I refer to "For me as an atheist all religion is nonsense".
To be Atheist, is not to believe in a god or any deity, Which is something i respect and have no Issue with. But adding on that "all religion is nonsense" suggests your not content in your own belief and feel the need to scrutinize what others believe.

GaryMc82 (Derry) - Posts: 3017 - 24/01/2015 20:18:29    1686090

GaryMc82

To be Atheist, is not to believe in a god or any deity, Which is something i respect and have no Issue with. But adding on that "all religion is nonsense" suggests your not content in your own belief and feel the need to scrutinize what others believe.

I'm perfectly happy being an atheist, I don't believe in any god so there's no issue for me there and I'm glad you do respect my lack of belief in a deity and I respect people's rights to believe in a god if they wish to.

But here's the thing, the state I was born, bred and reared in, The Republic of Ireland certainly does not respect my lack of belief, we still don't have a secular constitution in this country, our primary schools are still by and large run by the catholic church and children of non believers will be put down the list (discrimination at it's worst), we still have a blasphemy law carrying a maximum fine of 25k etc etc

Listen like I said before, people are entitled to believe in whatever god they want once religion stays out of schools and constitutions, is that not a reasonable thing to say?

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 25/01/2015 10:29:59    1686150

Htaem, religion is nothing to do with it. It is only an ethnic identifier. Problem is based on our history of colonization and fact that the six counties was loped off to give the settlers an artificial majority. NO very PC but there you are!

As for being an atheist making you somehow immune from all that awfulness, the worst criminals in history - Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot were atheists. And I doubt very much if the creatures responsible for Greysteel and Loughlinisland were attending Sunday morning services to be fair to vast majority of Protestants. Or indeed that those who carried out Darkley were Mass goers. In fact they belonged to an allegedly 'Marxist' organisation.

hurlingdub (Dublin) - Posts: 6978 - 25/01/2015 11:05:18    1686160

hurlingdub

Htaem, religion is nothing to do with it. It is only an ethnic identifier. Problem is based on our history of colonization and fact that the six counties was loped off to give the settlers an artificial majority. NO very PC but there you are!

Religion is undeniably a cause of division in Northern Ireland, but I agree with some of the above statement.

As for being an atheist making you somehow immune from all that awfulness, the worst criminals in history - Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot were atheists.

Ah this old chestnut for a start I never said or even implied that I was "immune from all that awfulness" and those were evil men doing evil things as evil men do, not in the name of atheism but because they were tyrannical dictators. You see the ignorant abuse atheists have to put up with in their own country, being told that the most evil men in history (which is an entirely subjective choice anyway) were atheists, I mean what is the implication there hurlingdub? Am I an evil person on par with Stalin just because we share the same lack of belief in god?

Hilter wan't an atheist by the way, he was roman catholic and the church never excommunicated him for his crimes either, here's a little quote from Adolf himself = "My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter".

PS, don't forget that only 1 high ranking Nazi was excommunicated by the catholic church and it wasn't any of the war criminals for their crimes against humanity, it was propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels for committing the heinous crime of marrying a protestant.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 25/01/2015 12:26:37    1686183

Please stick to the topic at hand anything off topic will simply be deleted.

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Administrator (None) - Posts: 2274 - 25/01/2015 17:48:26    1686247