Who are you to judge anybody?

Not judging others is a theme I’ve read elsewhere in the Bible. Even if you’re not a Christian, it’s a good principle that people follow; the American fictional lawyer Atticus Finch in the book “To Kill a Mocking Bird” suggests that we don’t judge others until we put on their shoes and walk around in them a while.

When I came home on Sunday, I listened to yet another radio programme about the Rev. Ian Paisley’s long and controversial career. There’s something in our psyche that tempers us from speaking ill of the dead, but that seems to have been set aside.

Such is the nature of Ian Paisley’s life and character that the divisions he evoked in death came flooding out before he had even been laid to rest.

It seemed to me there was plenty of judging going on, and there was little middle ground.

He was variously a monster and the man who caused the Troubles.

Or gentle and gracious and a man who led an exemplary life.

There were plenty of other descriptions. Everything, it seemed, was black or white.

I wasn’t a fan of Ian Paisley at all; but surely nobody on this earth is all good or all bad. We are all full of contradictions, and the complex character of the man who dominated politics in Northern Ireland for decades means he was more contradictory than most.

His detractors didn’t have far to look for the bad. His description of Catholics as vermin was but just one insult to a whole people. It is one thing to dispute another’s doctrine on the basis of one’s own interpretation of the Bible, but quite another surely to heap insult and disgrace on those “Papists” who are neighbours on this piece of soil.

And yet, there are numerous examples of how Paisley the public representative helped “ordinary” Catholics who came to him for assistance.

Even so, generations of Catholics regarded him with a mixture of fear and loathing.

His stance towards political Irish Nationalism and in particular Republicanism was uncompromising; they weren’t even decent human beings and needed to be decontaminated before being accepted into the political process. Though the cleansing process came quickly when he got a sniff of power, and he became Martin McGuinness’s friend.

Paisley, we have been reminded, was first and foremost a man of faith, a preacher of the gospel. But the blurring of the two roles was never better illustrated than the clip from the 1980s that was replayed this week.

From the pulpit, he prayed with venom that the Lord would hand over Margaret Thatcher to the devil and that God “in wrath (would) take vengeance on this wicked, treacherous, lying woman.” One wonders if both Paisley and Thatcher are now in the kingdom of heaven, and what sort of meeting that will be!

But while Paisley poured scorn on those of different religion or political creed, often the greatest opprobrium was reserved for his fellow Protestants or those who would apparently be on the same side of the Union. Many people forget that although various Ulster Unionist leaders from O’Neill to Trimble were destroyed, Paisley’s ire was often also directed at other churches for having the temerity to disagree with his assertion to be always right in matters of faith and doctrine. Woe betide them.

Divisions within the churches are all too common and must surely hurt the God they all purport to worship. Someone was once asked: “How’s the world treating you?” and he replied: “The world’s treating me well; it’s Christians that are giving me a hard time.” Throughout his life, the Rev. Ian Paisley was a turbulent priest, savaging friend and foe alike.

It is, therefore, one of the great ironies that in the end his own turned on him.

When he couldn’t grasp the reality that a man in his early 80s should stand aside gracefully, his party and church ousted him. Politicians who owed their career to him and church members who would have followed him to the ends of the earth voted him out. And boy did it hurt, as we learned so publically in recent months.

The tributes from many in the DUP and the Free Presbyterian Church sit uncomfortably now. Especially as they flounder to make his hard-fought political gains work.

By then, of course, Ian Paisley had become part of the establishment he had railed against for nearly 60 years. It is easy, and I have done it myself, to dismiss this as being the selfish act of a man tempted by the lure of earthly power and glory. But he still did it, and even if we say it could have been done years ago, he made the peace. And in the end it really doesn’t matter if his previous ill-health, or a realisation that the time was right, or anything else was the vital factor. Whatever people say about their pasts, the partnership between Martin McGuinness and Ian Paisley was one of the great stories of former enemies putting aside enmity for the greater good. And yes, I’m saying don’t forget Martin McGuinness’s role in this.

Ultimately, Paisley did the right thing; though many will say that doesn’t wipe away a lifetime of bitterness.

So at the end of his life, we are constantly asking, how will history judge Ian Paisley?

There is no easy answer, and there won’t be. It’s a very subjective matter, because Paisley’s character and career made a volatile cocktail of paradox.

He was the loud-mouthed bully who could be gracious and humourous on a personal level. He was the massive public figure whose private family life meant more to him; and Ian Paisley junior’s article “My father, my hero” spoke volumes about their family.

The scourge of Irish Republicanism who became friend of the IRA Commander. The bitter opponent of the Republic of Ireland “haven” for terrorists to the former Taoiseach’s ally.

The scourge of Unionist establishment who became First Minister; the severest critic of Unionist and Protestant top brass who himself provided a strong and resolute leadership for many others of his tribe.

There is no better example of the complexity and contradiction of the people of Ireland, north and south, than Ian Paisley.

But who am I, or you for that matter, to judge. I appear to be doing so, judging that is.

But I think Ian Paisley would be the first to acknowledge that the only judgement that matters is the one he faced last week as he slipped from this world into eternity to met his God. Verse 12 says: “So, then each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.”