Messages of hate cloaked in language of religion

I WOULD like to echo John J Hassett’s call (Irish Examiner letters, May 12) that once and for all we stop tolerating messages of hate that are cloaked in the language of religion.

Is there not something odd in the contrast between the coverage of the murder of Michael McIlween in Ballymena and that of Daniel Damiola in London? They were both hate crimes, but only one outraged liberal Britain.

Imagine, if you can, that Damiola’s local MP had spoken of blacks in the same way that Ian Paisley has spoken of Catholics since the 1950s.

Of course, it is impossible to imagine such an MP surviving in British public life, let alone escaping censure.

We have reached the ridiculous point that criticising Paisley is regarded as sectarian.

Has any good come of the trendy pretence that there is no sectarian elephant in the unionist living room?

The only outcome is that Paisley is now the dominant force in unionism, at least partly through the votes of young people who have never heard any robust discussion of this man’s past actions or of his current beliefs.

Tim O’Halloran

Ferndale Road

Dublin 11