Capitol Hill Blue Forums Hot Topics & Breaking News The RoundTable Round Table for the Week of August 23 - 30, 2010

In a society where religious identity and sectarianism remain dominant forces, anti-gay rhetoric is not uncommon. Iris Robinson, the wife of the leader of the province's power-sharing government and a former lawmaker in her own right, denounced homosexuality as an abomination. (She later resigned from the Northern Ireland Assembly when she was caught having an affair with a 19-year-old and secretly raising money for him to open a coffee shop.)

It was one of three assassination attempts within a single week this month on people connected to the British and Northern Irish security forces. Together with other recent incidents, the failed attacks are part of an upswing of activity by republican rebels intent on disrupting the peace process that formally ended decades of heavy sectarian bloodshed in this divided territory.

The surge comes at a delicate moment. Tensions always run high in Northern Ireland in the summer, when parades by Protestant groups emphasizing their loyalty to the British crown create friction with their Roman Catholic, republican-minded neighbors.