The eternal grievance culture that fuels a major Scottish football club's support is rooted in a deliberately splintered education system; segregation with no mandate, apartheid with no apology - naked sectarianism with a licence.
It is excused by a nation-state paralysed by a fear that the bigot card will be played against it if it acts to remove the sectarian stench that is polluting our national sport - and our country.
This Scotland has an ambition to stand alone; to be a nation again, and yet it lacks the moral courage to rid itself of a festering disease that is an affront to Scots from the political left, the political right and the political centre ground.
If Scotland cannot divest itself of those state-funded engines of intolerance and bigotry, how can it possibly entertain the prospect of being a functioning nation-state in a complex world?
Scotland was a great country once, but it never will be again until it removes that great enabler of intolerance and sectarianism. The sordid climate of hate that exists within the Celtic support results directly from a needless and inexcusable division in the country's state-funded education system.
Celtic Park, that vile city landmark, which witnessed, and massively participated in, the biggest racist incident ever to be witnessed in British sport, is where the faithful assemble to give vent to their taxpayer-sponsored brand of sectarianism; to lambast the 'h' (rhymes with nuns) and 'orange bastards' from the sanctuary of their cathedral midden.
This country needs to prove that it is ready for the brave new world of independence. Scotland needs to rid itself of a sectarian education system which stokes the fires and fans the flames of intolerance more than has ever been publicly admitted by cowardly and hypocritical politicians.
If independence is to be our destiny, oblivion must be the fate of a segregated education system that is an affront to democracy, freedom and humanity. This enabler of sectarianism is no longer a price worth paying.
To the bigots that prop up this disgrace, stand aside and let the people sing; together, free from indoctrination, free from intolerance, and free from a perverse interference in the development of young minds.
And let every Scot understand this; the Rangers support seeks integration in the nation's schools. The segregationists wear green and white, proclaim loudly about their inclusivity, and then deny it to Scotland's children. If apartheid had an emblem in the west of Scotland, it would surely be green and white.
The moral high-ground in our country lies vacant. Which of our politicians, I wonder, has the courage to plant a flag on it?