The moderator-designate of the Presbyterian Church has said there is a moral obligation on paramilitaries to move the political process forward by decommissioning.
Dr John Lockington (54) will take over from the present moderator, Dr John Dixon, in June. He is widely viewed as belonging to the conservative wing of the church and is a strong evangelical.
He said he would maintain contact with other church leaders but he would not engage in formal joint worship with Catholics. Dr Lockington, who was elected on Tuesday night, was born on the Shankill Road in Belfast, the son of a shipyard worker.
He is a long-standing member of the Orange Order. Giving his first media interviews as moderator-designate yesterday, he acknowledged that might cause concern in some quarters but he insisted he was "a minister of the Gospel who happens to belong to the Orange Order, not the other way round". On Drumcree, he said there had to be "recognition of the balance of rights and responsibilities and an atmosphere created where both communities respect one another". He would like to see the situation resolved as soon as possible and would be prepared to act as a mediator. He said the order was "basically a religious organisation" and he criticised "those who are trying to take it along a political line".
Dr Lockington said the political process was at a difficult stage and the onus lay with the paramilitaries. "There is much suspicion in the general community and that needs to be overcome. Those who say they are committed to the process and to moving it forward are still storing weapons. It is difficult for the community to have trust in them. The paramilitaries could prove their commitment to peace by decommissioning."
When asked if Sinn Fein should be allowed into the executive in advance of IRA decommissioning, he would not answer directly.
"All I will say is that there is a moral obligation on those who signed up to the agreement and the peace process to pursue its reality. The vast majority of people both North and South have said they want the agreement and the peace process to work, and it is up to the paramilitaries and the people linked to them to show commitment."
On the release of paramilitary prisoners, he said: "Folks released from prison have been given what they don't deserve. In the eyes of the law, they should have finished their sentences. Society has a right to expect gratitude from them, that gratitude could be expressed by a permanent end to paramilitary violence."