God and the Gun: The Church and Irish Terrorism

This book is the first of its kind to examine the role of religion in Northern Ireland by talking directly to those involved: to the churchmen and to the terrorists. It shows how religious conditioning and history lead inexorably to political violence. It asks Roman Catholic and Protestant paramilitaries how they can reconcile murder with their Christian convictions, and what the men of God should - or could - do to stop the killing. Martin Dillon talks to Billy Wright, loyalist hard man, whose murder in MAZE Prison on December 27, 1997 threatens the peace process; to Kenny McClinton, a convicted murderer who once advocated beheading Roman Catholics and impaling their heads on railings; to motherly Eileen, a leading member of the women's arm of the IRA; and to Father Pat Buckley - prepared to break the confessional seal to save a Unionist MP under threat of assassination but also to smuggle a Republican prisoner's wife across the Irish border.