Father James Chesney's involvment in a lethal IRA attack may have been exceptional, but it is a reminder of the extent to which religion was bound up in the politics of 1970s Northern Ireland. And there are echoes of this in almost every conflict that has occured where religion is still an important part of the social fabric: in the Philippines, Lebanon, in Latin America and elsewhere.

Where religion is a focus of commuinity organisation and identity, it seems natural that it would be drawn into the sometimes brutal business of politics, even into violence. So is political religion an inevtiability, or an aberration? Should faith always be above the fray?

Monday's response

Mary Kenny: Personal faith can be separate from politics, but, in the public realm, there will often be an overlapping

Wednesday's response

Nathan Schneider: The apolitical heresy takes two forms: jihadi extremism and blissed-out spirituality. Both disregard other human beings

Friday's response

Hugh O'Shaughnessy: Religion cannot afford to be 'above the fray'. The hardest part is deciding how to intervene, as the experience of Cuba shows