In your report “Order of the day” (June 20th) on the Orange Order march in York you include the unattributed quote that the order stands for religious liberty, the British Crown, a belief in the words of the bible and that the organisation opposes the teachings of the Catholic Church.
It might have been more accurate to say that the organisation represents a point of view that is seen by many to be bigoted, fired by religious intolerance and which actively contributed to the violence which was a part of Irish history for far too long.
In my view Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland have suffered decades, if not centuries, of this intolerance, based on sectarian divisions that have no place in a modern society.
Whoever gave permission for the march to take place in York needs to seriously consider any similar request in the future.
I suspect that if an anti-Islamic group or an Irish republican group, or indeed any organisation with extremist views were to make such a request, it would be denied.
I fully acknowledge that there are two sides to every argument and that these people have a right to march, but to bring their tainted view of history to parts of the United Kingdom that do not have a direct connection with past events is, I suspect, offensive to many.
Mike McPeake, Holgate Road, York.
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