DISPELLING THE MYTHS

The Scottish Orange Order has this to say about itself on its website, "We are an organisation of people bonded together to promote the ideals of our faith." Er...isn't that how you would describe a church? What ideals do they mean? It really is difficult to understand what the hell these folk or on about. To be honest, I don't think they quite understand either; they're making it up as they go along.

Really, what 'faith' are they on about? You'll here them saying "Protestant" this and "Protestant" that, when, in reality, the word 'Protestant' means absolutely nothing anymore. I've heard some of them refer to the 'Reformed' faith but, again, this has pretty much lost all meaning since there is no such thing as a homogeneous 'Reformed' faith. Calvinists would throw their hands up in shock if they walked into a Lutheran church and saw the statues of the Virgin Mary and confessional boxes. And then there's their belief in transubstantiation of the Eucharist - shock! horror! Meanwhile, both the Lutherans and the Anglicans don't hold to any doctrine of predestination, while the Anglicans are great believers in the use of ceremonies. Both Lutherans and Anglicans, however, would be welcome in the Orange Lodge; so what are the criteria for membership?

From what I've read, anyone that joins the Orange Order has to declare that he is a Christian and has to declare his adherence to the Nicene Creed, especially the doctrine of Trinitarianism. In this sense, it might seem to be an umbrella group for the members of the various 'Reformed' churches, who might have all manner of different doctrines but all hold to Trinitarianism. Perversely, though, this is not the case. Since the days of the Reformation even more churches have sprung up, not all of them Trinitarian. Strangely, members of these churches have been accepted into the Order. I, personally, have known members of the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), both Unitarian churches, who were members of their local Orange Lodges. It seems that the doctrine of Trinitarianism isn't that important after all.

Okay, we are left with the Orange Order being an umbrella group for Christians that don't agree with the doctrines of the Catholic Church, even though those disagreements are not always the same. As McMurdo puts it, "The right of the Orange Order to (be) strongly at odds with Roman Catholicism in terms of doctrine and theology is not a licence to be bigoted towards Catholics but it IS a right and freedom which should never be tampered with." Fair enough, but let's compare it with another Christian, so-called 'Protestant' organisation - the Boys' Brigade. I joined this organisation in the 1960s and nobody cared that I was a Catholic. I was made welcome at the monthly 'Church Parade' service at the local Church of Scotland and attended the Sunday School before going to Mass on my way home. Nobody lectured me about the 'faults and superstitions' of the Roman Catholic Church or tried to indoctrinate me with any 'Protestant' soteriology. We learned Bible stories, discussed the right way to behave as a Christian, did art work and learned songs. My being a Catholic was never an issue. Can the Orange Order claim to be as tolerant?

One area of tolerance where the Orange Order is, perhaps justifiably, proud is that it has always been open to Jews. In fact, Jews have played a prominent part in the Orange Order for well over a century. But wait a minute here. Isn't the Orange Order supposed to be a Christian organisation? This puts things in an entirely different light. So, really, the Orange Order is not purely a 'Protestant', Christian organisation; so what the hell is it?

As we've already seen, it's okay to join the Orange Order if you're a Unitarian, believe in transubstantiation, are a High-Church Anglican that believes in ceremonial worship, are a Mormon that eschews belief in Monergism and believes that you get to Heaven on your own merits or even if you happen to be a non-Christian. In fact, many members of the Order and its associated bands have never seen the inside of a church and I've known members that have never even been baptised. It seems that it's okay to be a Heathen as well!

So, all we're left with is that practically anyone can join the Orange Order, no matter what your beliefs; unless, of course you're a Catholic. This, apparently, is the only prerequisite to being an Orangemen. And they claim they're not bigoted! You'll hear them constantly banging on about Catholic schools and how a non-Catholic is not allowed to be a head teacher. That, they claim, is bigotry and yet their organisation bars nobody except Catholics but is, supposedly, an all-inclusive, non-bigoted, tolerant organisation. My arse!

McMurdo says that "individual lodges vary greatly in terms of what is acceptable and tolerated but it is fair to say that in general any open display of bigotry will get you booted out of the Order." The operative word there is 'open'. The members of the Orange Order are firm believers in the Eleventh Commandment! Of course, if a large number of them displays their bigotry in the open then that's okay. Being 'up to wur knees' or telling Irish folk to 'go home' is perfectly acceptable as long as it's a crowd doing it.

The Orange Order was set up as a paramilitary, anti-Catholic organisation and it still gives that impression. How else to explain the uniforms worn by the bands, some of which wouldn't have looked out of place at Nuremberg. And historically, the Orange Order has been a by-word for bigotry. They demonstrated vociferously against the Catholic Emancipation Act, the allowance of the Catholic hierarchy back into Scotland and, of course, the taking-over of Catholic schools by Scottish councils. And everyone has known them for their bigotry and nothing else. Why else would a British Prime Minister, known to detest Catholics, be called 'Orange Peel' by his colleagues?

So now this organisation, which has a history of opposing every extension of citizenship to Roman Catholics, does not allow Catholics as members and played a large part in denying the vote to Catholics in Northern Ireland is taking over George Square for something called 'Orangefest'. This is being touted as some kind of PR exercise, to let us all know the 'real' Orange Order and dispel the myths. If that's really the case, then why isn't it being advertised? There's no mention of it even on Glasgow Council's website! The word is being passed around on Orange websites and social media, which would tend to suggest that they only want 'their own' at the event. So it's not a PR exercise after all; it's just another bigoted display of supremacist ideology.

Somebody asked me yesterday how we target the councillors that let this fascist, Godless display go ahead. The answer is, we don't. What we do is vote against ever Unionist politician that stands from now on; clear out every one of the bastards!

Finally, I read an absolutely shocking piece of news today. Ron, Russell; how could you do it? The legendary Sparks have apparently made an album with the plagiarist pile of pish that's Franz Ferdinand! How heart-breaking is that?

Here's a Sparks classic for the Billy Boys: