How the DUP fought postmodernism and lost

On this morning's Good Morning Ulster journalist Fionnuala O'Connor said that Peter Robinson was now tainted by "smear". Of course, as Fionnuala pointed out, it's the very weapon the Robinsons have used for years to devastating political effect. For some parties and dynasties the use of smear is simply another reasonable weapon to be employed from the arsenal but many of the Robinson's devout Christian supporters are deeply uncomfortable with the relativistic attitudes encouraged by modern politics. Those supporters believed the Robinsons were different, a reassuring bulwark of morality in a tide of rising expediency and compromise. Most of those supporters never took the time to think about how the Robinsons had treated fellow Loyalists and Protestants (such as Paul Berry et al) and if they did consider their behaviour to be hardline at times, well that was all okay for the sake of the Union.

Now the Robinson's Christian powerbase has no way of avoiding the simple truth which is that the DUP behaves just like every other modern political party: the Robinsons carefully choreographed a counter attack to the Spotlight investigation; the full story about Iris's suicide attempt is not yet clear (for example why did the ambulance take 8 hours to arrive); how could Peter Robinsons stand and joke at the dispatch box less than 12 hours after the suicide attempt - was he just being professional and diligent as he claimed and, of course, undeclared cash has changed hands.

Have no doubt, what will upset DUP supporters is not the sex - there have been umpteen sex scandals in the party - it's the further revelation that the most powerful dynasty in Loyalism is prepared to stoop to the same depths as the "unbelievers" in all the other parties.

Veterans of Loyalist politics will reflect that the tension between postmodern politics and religious fundamentalism is too great for the DUP to withstand and, if the party is to survive, it must be secularised.

The Robinsons affair

There is now a massive gulf between the prevailing secular, liberal mindset in the UK and those of religious faith. While the United Kingdom still clings on to an historic attachment to Christianity (in particular Anglicanism, which is seen as a fairly harmless weekend distraction involving old buildings - similar to membership of the National Trust) the wider public don't even understand the basic language, principles and theology of Christian belief. This has not been helped by a crucial failing on the part of evangelicals, not just to sign up to the central tenet of Christianity but to attempt to display it in their lives.

Let me explain what I mean. At the heart of evangelical Protestantism is a simple tenet - salvation by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ. Put simply, this means that there is nothing any of us can do to make ourselves right with God. It is a free gift made possible because Christ took on our mistakes and failings by dying for us on the cross. We evangelicals call the mistakes paid for by this sacrifical act "sins". Admittedly, we view them as a much more serious problem than non Christians. To secular people sins and weaknesses are not something to be overly concerned about, they're just part of our make up and it's not necessary to worry about them (as long as you're not hurting anyone else). Of course, as John Stuart Mill realised, there is hardly an act we commit which does not impact on somebody else. The key thing here, and this is why it relates to what's been going on in the lives of Peter and Iris Robinson, is that evangelical Christians should value God's characteristic of grace above all others. It's pretty obvious that when a free gift comes your way, something you do not deserve, you're bound to be pretty happy about it. You're also bound to be humbled by such generosity.

To anyone watching the behaviour of mainstream Protestants in Northern Ireland over the past forty years, this humble spirit has been remarkably lacking. Sadly, nowhere has this been more obvious than in the actions of the UK's only "Christian" party, the DUP. We've witnessed a Free Presbyterian minister share a public stage with a self-confessed Loyalist killer, we've seen professing Christians wearing red berets and waving guns around, we've watched over three decades the Robinsons dispatch their political opponents with absolutely no mercy, and we've heard homosexuals described in language which has been, quite frankly, vicious.

And then yesterday the DUP leader, Peter Robinson, asked for grace to be extended to his family in what are, clearly, dreadful circumstances.

It's precisely because Iris is a Christian (and a struggling one like all of us) that she knows the gap between her spoken beliefs and her private actions. Iris does understand that to God we are all worthless sinners (whether we're lesbian or gay, straight, bisexual, promiscuous or celibate) and that there's nothing we can do to improve the situation. Thankfully, Jesus Christ has done everything to improve the situation.

What I'm praying for now is that the Robinsons' statements are the end of it - but I don't necessarily have the faith to believe that. Yesterday's revelations were designed to scupper a BBC Spotlight investigation. The Robinsons are shrewd political operators. Getting the affair into the public domain and associating it with Iris's mental health problems gives the family (and, by association, the DUP) the moral high ground. Where that ground is less firm is in the relationship between the affair and financial matters. Peter Robinson's interview yesterday was, supposedly, all about Iris. In truth, it was all about him. Personal pronouns littered his speech. "I" have done nothing wrong, "I" am convinced nothing illegal has happened etc etc. Let's hope and pray, for Iris's sake, that BBC Spotlight doesn't have anything more on the Robinsons. Because if it does, we all know who is going to get the blame and where, Peter, is the grace in that?