McGrath, your second and third paragraphs illustrate what it is there that boggles the mind over here. We just can't get the idea of interdenominational persecution or intimidation. Too many generations have passed since we faced religious division on that scale. If an engaged couple of different denominations here faced a Catholic priest who insisted their children be brought up Catholic, they'd laugh in his face and go find a priest with a brain. Or take the offspring to both churches and let them make up their own minds when they're old enough to consider their beliefs and how they want to practice them. But the religious upbringing of the children would be decided by the couple, not by any church. Employers here can't ask your religion, let alone your denomination, when you apply for a job. It's not a question you face at the border entering the U.S. It's not even something you'd introduce into a conversation at first meeting, or inquire of the person who introduces you -- in fact, it's considered intrusive to ask; people would assume you're about to proselytize.

Fionn, my concern with the British presence is that, because they're British, they seem to exacerbate the anger and prolong the mistrust. French, Scandanavian, Japanese: probably any other policing force on earth would be more trusted by both sides. And I'll freely concede that a rerun of the events of the '20s in the south is all too probable in the current climate. It's a dicey situation all around, with people who were vociferously espousing Unionism/Republicanism suddenly jockying for power in a regime that doesn't even exist yet. I just wonder whether the British government, because of their none-too-snowy history with the Irish, are the ones to be guiding the transition.

Sarah