On April 24th, 1916, a group of Men enter the General Post Office in Dublin and took control of the building. That act and the proclamation of the Republic of Ireland spelled the begining of the 1916 Rising. Many refer to the these events as the Easter Rising which gives the non-believer part of me a queasy feeling.
The marriage of a violent political uprising with the pacifist beliefs promulgated by Jesus Christ some 1,900 years before, has always seemed to be an odd justaposition. I have no doubt that many of the men who fought in the General Post Office and across Dublin in the ensuing five days possessed fervent religious beliefs. Much has been written about the intensity of Patrick Pearse's Catholic beliefs and his desire for a blood sacrifice, a martyrdom. Neither I, nor anyone else can say with certainty how Pearse reconciled his religious beliefs with the violence unleashed that day.
Patrick Pearse (1879 -1916)
Was there a better way and does asking that question denigrate the bravery of the men and women who marched out on that Monday morning in 1916? William Butler Yeats certainly speculated on that subject in his epic Easter, 1916 poem when he posed the question: "Was it needless death after all?"
For myself, the measure of independence achieved in Ireland likely could not have been completed without violence and so the rebels of 1916 have both my respect and thanks. I'm mindful that the whole of the island is not independent of British rule and that much peace and reconcilliation work needs to be done before that can become a peaceful reality.
The 1916 Rising is rarely celebrated on April 24th in Ireland. That only happens should Easter Sunday actually coincide with that date, all this despite the fact that the Rising actually took place on the Monday after Easter. Is it time to remove the odd association between a violent political event and a religious festival? Are we doing a disservice to both Christianity and the Irish revolution by continuing to insist on the odd coupling? Do we dishonor those who set these events in motion by delinking Catholicism from the events of 1916? Is it time for a secular Irish Independence Day and should it be celebrated on April 24th?
