The Orange Order should axe its outdated rule banning members from attending Catholic places of worship.
Tomorrow (Tuesday), an estimated 100,000 Order and band members will be on parade across the North when the traditional three resolutions on faith, loyalty and state will be publicly read at nearly 20 demonstration fields.
But it's not a case of what these resolutions say, as what they leave out. There are many Orange members who call themselves 'born again' Christians. Their tales of how they became 'saved' are known as testimonies.
The faith resolution should have read: "And Grand Lodge allows our members to attend Catholic chapels, convents, cathedrals and monasteries so that true, 'born again' Orange brethren and sisters can inform our Catholic colleagues how to become 'saved' in Christ."
Instead, the Order has left itself open to ridicule and handed its opponents another public relations coup on a plate.
This 12 July co-incides with the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James, or Authorised Version, of the Bible. In spite of the many translations of the Bible since 1611, the 'KJ' is still tops, especially among fundamentalists and evangelicals.
Tomorrow, Orangemen will be told: "We encourage all men to read the Holy Bible for themselves and to seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit to understand and apply it to their own lives."
And how many Order members will actually listen to this? If they did, they would immediately open face to face dialogue with the Parades Commission and nationalist residents groups.
They would also encourage loyalist 'Kick The Pope' bands to rethink contentious routes, and ensure that no Orange or band member got pissed or took alcohol at any parade during the Marching Season.
The Grand Lodge needs to face the reality it cannot practice what it preaches and this resolution is empty rhetoric. There are many Protestants who only darken a church when they are in their coffins.
The Order, if it wants to get people to read the Bible, should remember the Biblical advice – take the beam out of your own eye before you take the mote out of someone else's.
The state resolution will leave the Order facing hysterical laughter. It says: "As a caring institution, we call on our brethren to remember the example of the Good Samaritan, who bore the burden of another and helped him on his journey."
Where were Orangemen when the recent rioting kicked off in east Belfast? Surely as Good Samaritans they should have been on the streets trying to calm the rioters, or stopping loyalists from attacking Catholic homes?
The loyalty resolution in Scotland could well be a dry run of what Orangemen could be saying in the North following the next Assembly poll in four years' time if Sinn Féin pulls off the unthinkable and becomes the largest Stormont party.
Scotland now has a clear nationalist government with an independence referendum high on the agenda.
Referring to the SNP government, the Scottish loyalty resolution states: "They would have our Sovereign compromise the Coronation Oath in order to achieve their political aims and objectives and take us down the road to disaster.
"The claims and dictates of a Nationalist Government are contrary to Her Majesty's hereditary right as a constitutional monarch of this realm and we pledge ourselves to resist all attempts to alter the British Constitution in any way that would put our cherished liberties at risk."
The Order needs to be clear what methods it defines by 'resist'. Perhaps instead of public announcements, the Order should confine these resolutions to its private lodge rooms and work on reforming its own institution before ordering society how to conduct itself.
