At one point in Ireland, I had the priviledge to sit with both protestant and catholic children during a break in the soccer action. Here's a brief recap of the conversation that ensued.

Me: "So, what do you guys do when we (Americans) are not around."
Them: "Get into trouble."
Me: "How so?"
Them: "We break windows and stuff."
Me: "Why would you do that?"
Them: "Well, he (pointing across the circle) takes down our flags. He is a protestant, and I'm catholic."

Well, there was a turn in the conversation I hadn't anticipated. From there, we discussed those differences and kept circling back to the fact that nobody wins that conflict. There was, in the kids, no real desire even to see one side or the other prevail. They had resigned themselves to a hopeless, neverending struggle. They all knew there would always be fighting, but they really didn't know why - except to say "he's protestant" or "he's catholic". It became clear over the course of the week that those words had almost nothing to do with religion. They are almost like saying "he's a republican" or "he's a democrat". They represent an ideology. So the religion has become indistinguishable from the struggle and the politics. The labels have become tools for the propoganda machines to indoctrinate hatred into young minds so that power truly rests with groups like the IRA (and militants on the protestant side as well).