If
response to PROTCATH
is 'Protestant community' or 'Catholic community' ...
Thinking about your time at school, did you ever have contact with
pupils from a different religious community to yourself?
NB: Square brackets indicate where the text was edited.
There are not enough opportunities for young people from other communities.
If there were more opportunities for young people to mix, then they
would get to realise that everyone is the same and would not care
about each other's community background.
Going to an integrated school changed my views on different religions.
I was able to find out what people from different religions were like
for myself. There should be more integrated schools.
[I] Think that everyone should mix with each other without any violence.
I went to a mixed religion school for 5 years and never saw any fights
over religion. I wish it could just be the same outside school.
I go to an integrated school and I have found that some people are
fine with the different religions but other people aren't. There are
more Protestants than Catholics in my school and I have found that
some of the Protestant pupils dislike people because they are Catholic
and find it funny to call them 'Fenians' etc. The school is in a Protestant
area and the people in that area, although they know it's an integrated
school, continue to believe it's a Catholic school and vandalise it
regularly. Also the people from this village target the children from
the village that go to my school, beating them up and calling them
'Fenian lovers' etc.
On the whole I think relations between the two communities in N.
Ireland are good. In rural places, small towns etc. people live and
work together successfully but perhaps there will always be certain
divides. The main problems are in places like Belfast where people
continue to hold sectarian opinions.
There seems to be more Loyalist and Republican confrontations in
built up areas, however in the country religious views are private
and I believe they are more loyal to what they believe in. Violence
solves nothing!
Community relations are a lot better in smaller towns or rural areas
as they are in the cities such as Belfast or Derry.
It's only in a small area where community relations cause friction.
I think all people are the same and everyone should treat other people
with respect, no matter what religion. Half of my friends, approx,
are of a different religion and we all get on fine but I think that
may be due to where I live. Therefore I think that if I lived in Belfast
it would be very different! All the fighting and conflict between
religions is a waste of time and innocent lives!
People who come from a Catholic home and go to a Catholic school
rarely get a chance to mix with other religions. Sport can be responsible
for dividing communities e.g. Gaelic and Rugby.
