Every year, on July 12, proud people parade triumphantly through the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland. But who are these people and what are they celebrating? To answer that question, we have to go back over 400 years ago, to the late 1600s.
In 1685, James II, a Catholic, became King of England, and began trying to impose Catholicism and absolute monarchy on the traditionally Protestant and constitutional English nation. This naturally provoked a great deal of hostility towards the King among both Parliament and the common people, and it wasn't long before they began to plot against him. This plot finally came to fruition in 1688 when William III, Prince of Orange, King of the Netherlands, and next in line to the English throne, landed in the English port of Brixham, provoking a revolution that forced James to flee to Ireland. William was crowned as England's new King, and he set about restoring England's Protestant, constitutional order. All seemed to be well now.
But it wasn't, not yet. Back in Ireland, James was rousing the Catholics of southern Ireland to his cause in an attempt to retake Britain. However, the Protestants of Northern Ireland (also known as Ulster) refused to accept his rule. So, in 1689, James set out to conquer Ulster, as a stepping stone to reconquering Britain. But the Ulster Protestants proved to be better fighters than James had expected. From April 18 to July 28 his forces besieged the town of Derry, but the people of Derry refused to give up, and as a result "No Surrender" became a battle cry still used in Ulster today. For over three months the Catholic cannons banged away at Derry, and disease spread, but still the Protestants stood firm. Finally, on April 28, the Royal Navy blasted through the Catholic lines, and the battle was won.
After William arrived in Ulster, the Protestants went on the offensive and marched south. When the Protestant forces tried to cross the Boyne River near Dublin on 11 July, 1690, the Catholics tried to oppose them. They nearly drove the Protestants back across the river, but the Protestant cavalry managed to regroup and counterattack, forcing the Catholics to retreat. This was a major victory for William. Although the Catholics weren't completely defeated until 1691, the Battle of the Boyne was the end of their chances of victory.
Although the battle actually happened on July 11, it came to be celebrated by Irish protestants on July 12 thanks to calendar confusions, and is still celebrated that way today. For Protestants, the Boyne is a symbol of their determination to keep the true Christian faith in defiance of Papal authority. For Catholics, it is a symbol of humiliating defeat that still fuels resentment today. The Irish Catholics would continue to try to subvert the Protestants (notably in the Easter rebellion of 1916, the Irish Republican Army's support for Hitler, a nominal Catholic by the way, during World War II, and the Troubles of 1969 to 1998) but thankfully for true Christians like myself they have always failed.
Honestly the fact that the Catholic Church likes to posture about being the one true Christian church despite having mostly abandoned true Christian doctrine, and that the Pope is hailed by many as Christianity's leader despite the Papacy's frequent abuse of power over several centuries enrages me, and I suspect that it enrages God as well. I look forward to the day when the true church will replace the false one once and for all. Happy Orange Day!
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