this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2026
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Memes

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[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 13 points 10 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Anchorxiety@reddthat.com 38 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

I'm from Northern Ireland so I can (try to) explain. It's a joke about entrenched tribalism here. No matter who you are or what your beliefs are, you're judged on where you're from (a "Catholic area" or "Protestant area") and what your family's religious background is.

For example, I'm considered to be a part of the Protestant/Unionist community due to where I grew up and who my family were even though I am completely non-religious and my worldview has no resemblance to that of traditional Unionism. I'm descended from British people who colonised the North of Ireland during the Ulster plantations.

The joke is just exaggerating and poking fun at the divide, implying that you could be literally anyone and would still be asked if you're Catholic or Protestant. I.e. "I'm Muslim" "Yes but are you a Catholic Muslim or a Protestant Muslim".

Hope this makes sense. Like pretty much everything with the past 5 centuries of Irish history, its hard to explain.

[–] ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works 9 points 7 hours ago

Protestant/Unionist

That is mainly the root of it. The Catholic-Protestant divide is mirrored as the Republican-Unionist divide. Even if the religion could be separated the political implication remained.

Which made things especially tough for the Protestants in the republic and all the Catholics in the union.

[–] Saymaz@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 7 hours ago

Needs more emphasis on the Bristish colonial occupation of the Northern Ireland.

[–] Shellofbiomatter@lemmus.org 2 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

Is this just another splitting of hairs by religion to force it upon those who don't believe/dont care about god?

[–] mathemachristian@lemmy.ml 17 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

I mean a lot of atheists are still so impacted by the religious culture and refuse to let go of it, to the point where even the pope of the nu-atheism richard dawkins himself said he was "culturally christian" just to make sure that everyone knew he is a white supremacist at heart.

Source: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=COHgEFUFWyg

[–] Shellofbiomatter@lemmus.org 2 points 6 hours ago

Fair point, i completely missed the subtleties of that one.

[–] sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 9 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

No its about how cultural values are influenced if not heavily shaped by the dominant religion.

[–] Shellofbiomatter@lemmus.org 2 points 6 hours ago

Fair point, that and the meme now makes sense.

[–] bad_news@lemmy.billiam.net 3 points 12 hours ago (2 children)
[–] redparadise@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 9 hours ago

It was nice knowing you

[–] Saymaz@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 7 hours ago

See that wall over there, bud?