Word: belief
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...page after page of rich and exhaustive legal reasoning, befitting the intellectually dazzling court. Justice Clarence Thomas reiterated his often expressed opposition to affirmative action of all kinds, this time in 36 pages. Justice Stevens delivered a relatively terse ad hominem attack on the majority and offered his nonbinding belief that "no Member of the Court that I joined in 1975 would have agreed with today's decision." (The other eight are dead, so this couldn't be confirmed.) Kennedy offered an airy critique of both sides of the argument...
...symbol of Sgt. and Mrs. Stewart’s religious faith on his tombstone, prompting Mrs. Stewart to file suit against the VA. Under threat of a looming court date, the VA finally relented last April and approved the Wiccan Pentacle as an official “emblem of belief.” Sadly, this victory came far too late, after almost a decade of petitioning by the next of kin of fallen Wiccan soldiers...
...working definition of religion that is both inclusive and effective at distinguishing secular from sacred. During the Vietnam War, for example, in U.S. v. Seeger, the Court approved “conscientious objector status” for people who held a “sincere and meaningful” belief which “occupies a place in the life of its possessor parallel to that filled by the orthodox belief...
...definition provided by Congress is equally vague: In the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Congress defines religion as “a belief [that] must be sincerely held, and within the believer’s own scheme of things religious.” It is easy to see how either of these legal definitions could apply to most of the 4,000 or more world religions. So where did the VA go wrong...
Still, I was intrigued to read of a well-designed study released today by the Center on Education Policy that challenges decades of research on the advantages of private schools. "Contrary to popular belief, we can find no evidence that private schools actually increase student performance," said Jack Jennings, the center's president and a former staffer in the Democratic-controlled House, in a press release. "Instead, it appears that private schools simply have higher percentages of students who would perform well in any environment based on their previous performance and background...