Orangeism -
A New Historical Appreciation

The Orange Order has always been something of a chopping block in Ulster Society. It has been blamed for bigotry, intolerence, rowdiness and downright stupidity.

It has long been fashionable in some circles to speak contemptuosly of the Orange Order and Orangemen.

There can be no objection to honest citicism.

No large organisation of whatever kind is so perfect that faults cannot be found in it and in its members.

There is reason for complaint, though, when the criticism is of bad members and the whole is judged by the part; when no attempt is made to understand the circumstances of a case; when distaste for innocent pageantry so colours judgement that a little bit of nonsense is made an indictment of a man's whole way of life.

The critic who presumes that the Order is blind to its faults is very wrong. No organisation is so willing to be publicly castigated by critics who are guests at Orange sponsored services or speakers on Orange platforms.

The Orange Institution has long recognised that the easy facility with which men can obtain membership of a Lodge is a two-edged weapon. It helps to a large membership, but it often sacrifices quality for quantity. There is a great difficulty here. For the Order which has the altogether laudible aim to help men to a better understanding of the Christian Faith, and to a stand for that faith, must be reluctant to turn anyone away who is not a law breaker or a man totally disregarded by his fellows.

Other organisations which have no such lofty aim find no difficulty in restricting their membership.

The Orange Order has never laid down conditions for membership of the kind that would exclude any decent Protestant man.

Any unbiased examination of Orangeism must admit that the Orange Order has provided a rallying point for Protestant men who want to champion their religion against forces and influences which would cabin and confine it.

It has fought many battles within the law for the principles of Protestantism.

It has always gathered up members of all the Protestant Churches in its membership to display a unity in practice, a very different thing from the theoretical unity of so many ecumenists who give only a verbal consent, untied to action, to the idea.

The contribution which Orangeism makes to better relations among Protestants can not be over-valued. It is often overlooked.

In spite of its admitted deficiences, its weak humanity, the Orange Order is a great potential for good and a means of evangelism little appreciated by those who have the declared intention of winning people for the Kingdom of God.

Any honest study of the Ulster Social scene must make creditable mention of the large contribution which Orangeism has made to the happiness of many people. Its encouragement of innocent party pleasures, its big family holidays and its sympathetic and practical concern for community need is obvious to all but the blindly prejudiced. To make the point that more could, and should, be done socially, politically and religiously by the Institution is only to say that no organisation is ever as worthy as it might be.

The Orange Order is not blinkered. It knows its weaknesses only to well. It is determined, in spite of all those people, circumstances and unfortunate misrepresentation by friend and foe, which threatens its existence, to stand fast by its lofty and magnanimous principles and to encourage its members in their loyalty to Christ and His Church; in their fellowship within the Churches and in the community awareness which has typified the Institution since its beginning days.

Extracts from "Orangeism - A New Historical Appreciation"