Bernadette and Gordon

Bernadette and Gordon lived in Northern Ireland. Where they lived there could still be a dreadful penalty for falling in love across two religions. Bernadette was an 18-year-old Catholic girl, and her boyfriend Gordon was a 19-year-old Protestant. They had met at a factory where they both worked. Neither of them really cared about politics. Her father said she only cared about her family, friends and Gordon. Monday night, July 14th 1997, Bernadette was visiting Gordon. They were in a bedroom upstairs talking to Gordon’s sister, Wendy. Bernadette and Gordon fell asleep in each others arms. In the middle of the night a gunman walked in through an unlocked backdoor and went in to the bedroom where the couple slept. The gunman shot Bernadette in the head four times, which lead to her death in the hospital 12 hours later. There were a lot of speculations about the killer and where he was from. The Loyalist Volunteer Force, a union between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, was quick to say they didn’t do it. Even though the LVF denies responsibility, the police still thinks it’s a sectarian murder, and the motive has to be about their different religions.

There can be a lot of problems if young people fall in love across religions. Often either the man or the woman have to convert to the other persons religion to make it work. My aunt has a friend, and her friend fell in love with a Muslim man. To make it work she had to convert. His family couldn’t accept him being married to a Christian. She loved him too much not to convert, so she did, and now they are happy together. But she doesn’t wear a veil, so they compromised and it worked out well for them. Religion is the reason for a lot of murders, because some people believe so strongly. They can’t accept that people with the same religion don’t think or act the right way accordingly to the religion. I think everybody should be able to love and marry whoever they want to, without having to worry about the religions or cultures. There can be some problems between Muslims and Jews for example in the way they celebrate Hanukkah or other holidays, but then the couples would have to be open to the other persons religion and take part in each others traditions.