Big Ian couldn't resist the temptation to drag his god into the centre of his never, never, never land politics show last week. God, he imagined, hasfinally come down on his side and was destroying political opponents and accelerating the success of the DUP. History, or was it God, had finally got Tony Blair by the throat and is apparently about to throttle him for backing Trimble. A new judgement day has been set for the November 26 when, presumably, Paisley will pronounce judgement on his detractors after their wickedness is exposed by electoral and divine rejection.
In contrast Peter Robinson appears to deny that divine providence is calling time on DUP opponents. Rather it is the DUP itself that is destined to make history on November 26 by engineering final victory for itself. However, malign human agencies are desperately seeking to thwart DUP ambitions. For example, it will be maliciously suggested – perish the thought – that the DUP will sit down with republicans to negotiate the future. Yet Robinson appears to concede this point when he claims the DUP will actually 'force negotiations'. But with whom, other than Sinn Féin, are they intent on forcing negotiation? The DUP track record on running away from risky negotiation belies the suggestion they might try to force negotiations with Sinn Féin.
Among the enemies seeking to damage the anti-agreement case, we are told, is the security service MI5. Supposedly rogue agents have warned DUP and their right wing fellow travellers that they are about to be smeared with untruthful and damaging allegations. Jeffrey Donaldson is reportedly aware of similar warnings about sordid revelations to be launched against anti-agreement candidates. These unsavoury revelations are naturally to be dismissed in advance. But one wonders why MI5 agents retain these strange friends and whether they are really working hand and glove with the DUP and other right-wingers to stymie even darker forces.
There is a tendency to dismiss all this as the ravings of lunatics but some people actually believe that God intervenes in Ulster politics in favour of intransigent politicians while members of MI5 vigorously oppose God's will.
It never occurs to them that those MI5 agents who spend time with them might have other goals in mind than helping with election campaigns. Security agents, who apparently reveal their identity in such a friendly manner, are just as likely to be following deeper agendas by feeding them this kind of (mis)information. One of the easiest ways to get ideas, accurate and inaccurate, into the public domain is to feed them to gullible politicians with inflated egos.
If God really exists he must be far removed from the world of petty power-struggles that characterises so much of Ulster politics. God is not likely to be a member of the UUP, DUP, PUP or the Alliance Party, nor for that matter, is he likely to subscribe to the Women's Coalition, SDLP or Sinn Féin. A God of infinite love and wisdom would not easily take sides in our petty political squabbles. The idea that God favours sectional political candidates is not only a contradiction in terms but could be seen as the ultimate form of blasphemy. That such ideas are taken at all seriously, and they are by some, illustrates the inherent danger of politics in a divided society like ours. Human problems and struggles in these circumstances can take on absolute characteristics and create seemingly insoluble zero sum problems.
The real job of the politician is to deal with mundane issues that face people in their everyday lives. Bread and butter issues are the stuff of politics but politicians should also challenge the things that divide us rather than acting in ways that exacerbate division. All of us are shaped by the shared inheritance of division and in this context we need politicians who can, with some humility, show by example how to overcome the legacy of inhumanity. The one thing we must never do is to try to exploit the fears and susceptibilities of electors.
The central area of contention in this society revolves around the issue of unity verses union and this has been elevated to the status of an ultimate religious struggle for which people have killed, sacrificed and died. The conflict has served to sanctify monstrous divisions and has distorted the peaceable gospel of Jesus. It has hurt the weak and thwarted human potential. Jesus, in contrast, never conformed to any of the completing ideologies of his day but instead ended his young life facing execution at the hands of his own people rather than join with the throng who engaged in persecution thinking this was God's will.
