I grew up here in Ireland listening to news about murders up in Ulster almost every day. Like most Irish people, I desperately wanted it to stop. From time to time you’d here about some peace initiative that might end it, but it just seemed to go on forever. The most memorable peace initiative in my mind was 50 years ago in the summer of 1976. It began after a tragic incident in Belfast in which three children were killed when a car driven by an IRA member went out of control after he was shot by British troops.
Thousands of Catholic and Protestant women marched together in Belfast, demonstrating unprecedented cross‑community solidarity. But the violence went on until 1994.
The violence didn’t entirely stop until Good Friday 1998. Even after that, an IRA breakaway group murdered 28 people in the Omagh bombing. And there have been some incidents since then, but thankfully, it’s largely ended. And Ireland, North and South seem like very different places nowadays.
So, I’d like to see an end to all violent conflicts around the world, particularly related to religion. I don’t blame religion itself. You just get pathetic men who think that it makes them more manly to be fighting for their tribe. So, they piggy back on Islam or whatever. But it’s not just religion. It could be politics or even soccer teams. And it’s even happened with music. I remember seeing the film Quadrophenia back in 1979, which was set in the 1960s. The mods and Teddy boys fought each other on Brighton beach.
I have to confess, I enjoy playing war games on my computer. Almost every week, I kill all kinds of nasty monsters in Demeo or Battlemarked
I’m kinda jealous of my grandfather who fought in a real war, but I’d sooner kill in fantasy than kill real people. Perhaps I’d have been happy to kill Hitler or actual, Nazis but how many German soldiers really supported the nasty aspects of their governments?
I like Pipes of Peace, which is based on a true story of a soccer match after the British soldiers heard the German soliders singing Silent Night at Christmas.
Another thing I’d like to see is everyone in the world getting the opportunity to hear about Jesus and His offer of salvation. And if they choose to follow him, I’d like people to allow them to be Christians without persecuting them. And of course, whatever freedom we desire for Christians should be given to other religions and outlooks too.
I suspect that I won’t live to see a complete change in conflicts. Yet, Europe was quite a scary place to live in my parents’ and grandparent’s lifetime. Think of World War 1 and 2. And throughout my life, even apart from Islamist terrorists, we had Irish terrorists and communist terrorist groups in Europe, such as the Baader–Meinhof Gang.
I hope things will get better, but they can get worse too. Think of the war in Ukraine. We were so delighted back in the early 1990s when the cold war seemed to end. But then we had the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and now in Ukraine.
And of course, I’d love to see the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. How likely is that to happen? Even within evangelicalism there’s a wide range of views on it. But it will take us by surprise when it does happen. And it will happen. But if it doesn’t happen in my lifetime, I look forward to departing and being with Christ, which is better by far than staying here – just as the Apostle Paul remarked:
Philippians 1:21-23
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;
Here are some songs about the Irish conflict and about peace in general:
And here are a couple of hymns about peace:
Hibernia Gospel 