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Fergus Finlay: Anti-immigrant arson attack is not the Connemara I know and love

Connemara is one of the least likely places to ever be associated with the phrase ‘no room at the inn’, writes Fergus Finlay
Fergus Finlay: Anti-immigrant arson attack is not the Connemara I know and love

The arson attack on Ross Lake Hotel in Connemara shows how easy it is to whip anxiety into fear and hatred.

I took religion out of my life many years ago. There were reasons — some thought about long and hard, some instinctual. But I resolved when I was much younger that I didn’t want to be coerced into doing things I wouldn’t support by a structure I no longer believed in.

But if I left religion behind, maybe that’s not quite the same as saying that religion left me behind. Especially at this time of year, I find the symbolism captured in the story, the images, and perhaps above all the music of a religious Christmas extremely powerful.

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