He worked effectively to calm the sectarian passions unleashed by the incident.

Mr. Maliki agreed with him that troops driven by sectarian passions were a threat.

In others, social injustice kindled a militant proletarian loyalty, which, though at heart cosmopolitan, infected alike its champions and its enemies with sectarian passions.

Even so, securing Baghdad is an especially challenging mission given the sectarian passions, multiple militias, determined insurgents, high level of crime and weak central government.

There was a time when teachers had, above all, to be careful not to speak with the voice of Methodism or Anglo-Catholicism, for fear of offending the sectarian passions of the parents.

But he also describes Iraq as "a society riven at its base with sectarian passion."

Near him a group of artists, debating their schools and movements with sectarian passion.

For example, some administration officials believe primordial sectarian passions threaten to rip Iraq apart.

But as he embraced Islamic fundamentalism as a weapon against leftist adversaries, he also unleashed sectarian passions between Muslims and Copts.

The intelligence agencies paint a portrait of a society riven at its base with sectarian passion.