IS IAN Paisley a product of bad history and troubled times in Northern Ireland or a primary cause and net contributor? The debate about the retiring DUP leader's legacy is only just beginning as politicians across these islands weigh the implications of his dramatic resignation statement. In Catholic, nationalist Ireland - as in Protestant, unionist Ulster - it will continue long after Dr Paisley's departure as First Minister in May.
No assessment will be complete without regard to the dangerous mix of politics and religion that characterised the Paisley name for so long. Demagogue or ultimate democrat? Man of God or of hate? An inconveniently principled politician, or a pragmatist who destroyed his opponents and survived long enough to seize power for himself?
In the aftermath of the St Andrews Agreement, this debate is found at its most acute in the loyalist heartlands where Dr Paisley once reigned supreme as self-appointed defender of Ulster Protestantism against an alleged conspiracy inspired by the Vatican, aided by the ecumenical movement, and executed by the IRA.
While fearful Protestants were rallied to stand fast, be separate and never compromise, generations of Catholics were raised to the spectacle of the clerical firebrand denouncing the head of their own church as "a man of sin". A succession of Protestant churchmen and unionist politicians were denounced over the ensuing 40 years as Lundy's and traitors for daring to reach a hand across Northern Ireland's bloody divide.
To recall the past is not to engage in what Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness might call "whataboutery". We share Sinn Féin's confidence that the powersharing arrangements can survive the loss of Dr Paisley and be further enhanced if Peter Robinson succeeds him.Securing the future, however, will require a new DUP leadership to draw lessons from the past, develop more secular politics and exhibit a genuine interest in reconciliation between still-divided communities in the North.
"It happened." That was Dr Paisley's comment at one point last year when drawing a line under the past in explanation of the transformed circumstances enabling the historic DUP/Sinn Féin agreement. Other things happened, too, like an IRA campaign many border Protestants and others likened to genocide. The recent murder of Paul Quinn also explains why the final dismantling of paramilitary structures must accompany the transfer of policing and justice powers if the second phase of the devolution process is to be completed speedily.
It was the new Dr Paisley who set the stage - forcing Sinn Féin's endorsement of the Police Service of Northern Ireland - and thus emboldening any successor to believe that this can now be accomplished. The history books like winners and Dr Paisley may have removed himself just in time to avoid fulfilling Enoch Powell's dictum that all political careers end in failure.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, meanwhile, has fairly placed Dr Paisley in the annals of unionist history where he always wanted to be, alongside Carson and Craig. He can be happy, and in the end, we can be happy for him.