Bigotry is alive and well

For a lot of  people in Scotland, sectarianism doesn't exist. If you live outside industrial Scotland, particularly the Central Belt, the chances are you won't have encountered anti-Catholic or anti-Protestant bigotry. If you live in the industrial heartland, it's all around you. It's historic: it seems it has always been here. And it's gone way beyond religion: sectarianism is embedded in the Scottish culture. It's in our communities and in our homes. Where racism seems to be silent these days - you can be a racist inside your head but open racism is frowned on - it still seems to be okay to show sectarian prejudice.

Sectarian jokes are still around and tolerated. I'm ashamed to admit I found myself making one a few weeks ago when a friend of mine commented on someone having a strong Glasgow accent because he said Merry when he meant Mary. 'Sure sign he's a Catholic,' said I. My friend (from Ayrshire) looked amazed. 'Oh aye,' said I, 'Catholics canny say the name Mary - and their eyes are too close thegither as well.' I need to apologise to my friend when I next see him and explain these idiotic comments were part of a wee satire of bigots a (Catholic) friend and I came up with in our 20s when we were working for the most bigoted assistant heidie in Scotland - a man who challenged children in our non-denominational school if they had a name he thought was 'Catholic': 'Teresa O'Reilly', he would roar, 'what are you doing here? Why aren't you at Bellarmine?'

Even though I think of myself as educated, egalitarian, left-leaning, etc I accept that sectarianism is like a knee-jerk reaction even for me. What's worse, I grew up in a home where there was no sectarian talk at all. I picked up my sectarianism in school, on the streets and in my teens at work. I belong to a 'mixed' family: a few Protestants, a few Catholics, a lot of whom never darken the church doors - and there are a few atheists as well. We just don't talk about religion in the family. It's not important but I'm aware of the impact of sectarianism in everyday life: for some reason, although I'm an atheist, I've been on the receiving end of both anti-Protestant and anti-Catholic bigotry in my time.

Why hasn't Protestant/Catholic sectarianism just died out? Scotland has accepted several waves of immigrants in the past 200 years - Jewish, Asian, now Polish. They've settled in fine, maybe taking 2 or 3 generations, but managing to hold on to their own culture, religion, languages, etc. Why is there still such prejudice against Catholics from an Irish background, some of whom have been Scots since the 1860s?

One sign that I find encouraging is that we now have an anti-bigotry 'czar' (stupid name, I know) called Duncan Morrow. He's a Northern Ireland man himself and I suspect he knows what he's talking about. His view is that Scots are in denial about sectarianism. We claim it no longer exists or has never existed but, according to Dr Morrow, for a people who make these claims, we're a bit nervous of him coming in and turning over the stones to see what's there.

He's absolutely right about denial. Did you know there were marches last weekend in Lanarkshire in support of the flag-wavers of Belfast? I know this because friends on Facebook were going along but there's been nothing on TV or radio or in the papers to indicate this is a live issue in Scotland. It was the same during The Troubles: not a word in the media to even hint that Scots were involved in any aspect of what was, frankly, a sectarian civil war, just a couple of hours away on the boat.

The one thing we know from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa is that ignoring the problem won't cure it. Maybe we need to turn over all the stones, have a good look at our community and resolve to move on.