History question - Did we call the Irish Republican Army "Roman Catholic Terrorists"?

[sabrina 1]

12. Did we call the British Empire who invaded Ireland, suppressed and impoverished

its people, a Brutal Dictatorship that lasted for centuries?

I know what WE in this Country did to the British Empire and we call the Revolutionaries the Founding Fathers.

The IRA = The Founding Fathers

And no, it was not a religious war. Only people who do not know the history of how 'catholic/protestant came about think of it as a religious war.

During the time of Henry V111, when he was a Catholic, everyone was Catholic in England. When he became angry at the Church for refusing to allow him to ditch his wife and marry Ann Boleyn, he started his own Church, the Church of England.

He ordered everyone to become 'protestants' and death was often the penalty for refusing to do so.

The countries they were occupying, Ireland, apparently didn't get the message.

When the British Empire decided to give away Ireland's land to the English settlers (see Plantation of Ulster) they were Protestants. The natives were still Catholics.

And for all the centuries of occupation by the British Empire the Native Irish or 'catholics' fought the Empire, mostly losing, dying etc, who were 'protestants'. Until the early 20th Century when the Irish (catholics) threw the Empire (protestants) out of their country except for the Northern provence, Ulster where the protestants remained in control.

They treated the native Irish, (catholics) the same way this country treated African Americans. In the '60s the Native Irish (Catholics) rose up once again against the injustices being inflicted on them. Sort of like the Founding Fathers did here.

The 'loyalists'/protestants naturally didn't want any changes, they were happy, for the most part, as were the loyalists (protestants) here with the way things were.

So from the '60s on, the rebels, (native Irish/Catholics) continued to fight for their rights in their own country against the Empire, now fading.

The words 'catholic' and 'protestant' were merely to distinguish between the descendants of the British Empire and the Native Irish.

The fight was not religious, it was a fight for Civil Rights and coincidentally it began in earnest about the same time as the Civil Rights Movement here.

Many of those rights have been granted, thanks in large part to Clinton, who unlike Bush Sr, understood the struggle and helped negotiate a peace deal. Bush Sr, called the IRA terrorists as did Maggie Thatcher.

When rights are denied, people will rise up.

A more correct way to distinguish the two sides would be 'Native Irish' and 'Anglo Irish'