A “lack of mentoring of Christian values and Biblical teaching” is partly to blame for the disorder in Belfast, according to a former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.
Rev Norman Hamilton, was speaking to Premier Christian News after a second night of violence in the city. Demonstrators were blasted with water cannon after hurling bricks and petrol bombs and at least a dozen police officers were injured.
Describing the unrest as a "spiritual battle", he said it reflects a "godlessness" in which people don't fear God or man.
The minister, who served as Moderator between 2010 and 2011 lived in north Belfast for 27 years. He said the situation reminded him of the Troubles:
“I’ve seen it all before, and I'm just as distressed now by it as I have been over the years. But of course, my distress is nothing compared to the horrors of being burned out of your home by gangs, home where maybe you've lived for many, many years, with your home and your life in ruins. It is beyond even beginning to imagine, unless it is happening to you.”
The violence, in which many ethnic minority families were forced from their homes by masked gangs, has been described as "racist thuggery" by the Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn.
Rev Hamilton said: “I think the spiritual forces are at work and the obvious one is utter godlessness, whereby people have neither fear of God nor man.
“I want to be careful saying this, but there is no sense of overall ethical or moral values underpinning either politics or societal values. Everything is short-termism and long-term thinking and planning is really very rare.
“I'm not blaming politicians for this, but what I am saying, is that there is very little mentoring of the very best of Christian and biblical values anywhere in society.”
Rev Hamilton said Christians are doing what they can to support families who have been caught up in the violence with some opening their homes to give overnight shelter to families who have been burned out. He said Christians had also been “individually and collectively providing emergency food, providing reassurance and doing advocacy with the housing authorities.”
The United Nations human rights chief said on Thursday he was appalled by violence that's erupted.
Urging people to pray, Rev Hamilton called for “Christian people, and people of other faiths to come together to face into a societal evil. To deal with evil is incredibly difficult, because you are dealing with very strong spiritual forces as well as societal forces.”