There can be no place for the influence of criminality or terrorism on political power in Northern Ireland, Church of Ireland primate Archbishop Robin Eames said yesterday.
In his Easter message, he said there could be no place for ambivalence towards violence in any form in the political process.
"The time is long past for the people of this community to be inflicted with the duality of politics and violence in any form," he said.
Northern Ireland was crying out for a new dawn and a new reality in politics that recognised the priority of democratic agreement was the only way to build a stable future government.
Dr Eames said Northern Ireland was now seeing the real consequences and inheritance of the Troubles.
The days and nights of widespread atrocities might be a thing of the past, but the new culture of violence and division had been made possible by the events of the past, he said.
Trust was the real casualty of those years and violence too often appeared to produce results and rewards, said Dr Eames.
All that has happened had led to new questions of what was morally justified and what was immoral in the life of the community.
"Expediency has become the watchword for too much of social and political development. Lawlessness is filling a vacuum which is too often equated with the peace process. So-called progress is too often built on a denial of truth," he said.
It appeared people had learned little from the mistakes of the past.
"Thuggery in the name of tribalism is an everyday occurrence. The sectarian divisions of the past continue to frustrate the lives of too many this Easter," added Dr Eames.
Vicious attacks against people in their own homes had spread fear among the most vulnerable.
"Young and old have been subjected to a new culture of criminality where the sanctity of life and the sanctity of homes have been shattered," he said.
Decent law-abiding people of both communities deserved "the new dawn of hope which Christians celebrate at Easter. That dawn will come for us all, once the real message of Easter becomes a reality right across this community", he said. - (PA)