Word: clericism
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...part, the Church accuses pro-choice advocates like Mexico City's PRD assembly members of tricking Latin Americans into thinking that abortion is solely a public health matter and not a moral one. Mexico's leading Catholic cleric, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, recently told hundreds of pro-life Mexicans, who had just angrily marched through Mexico City protesting the abortion legalization proposal, that "the culture that proposes death for the unborn disguises its arguments... They say abortion is an issue of health and don't see that it's a fundamental problem for the life of the human race...
...damaging detail behind the seizure of 15 British Royal Marines and sailors is that the troops were captured by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Soaked with nationalist ideology, the IRGC is controlled by hard-line cleric Ayatullah Ali Khamenei, the ultimate font of religious and political power in Iran, and exists in many ways apart from the rest of the Iranian government. The Guards' activities are often a thorn in the side of Iran's Foreign Ministry, which is forced to repair the ruptures in Tehran's diplomatic relations. Nevertheless, the IRGC has been one of Iran...
...good fortune attracted the attention of bad people. Iraqis working with foreigners are regarded with suspicion by radical Shi'ite groups like the Mahdi Army of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Extremist groups view people like Yasser as traitors and collaborators who deserve to be tortured and executed. Early last year, one such group grabbed Yasser and interrogated him for several hours; that they released him unharmed was a small miracle - and a testament to his ability to talk his way out of trouble. But a few months later, the same faction kidnapped and tortured one of his friends...
...opposition has revolved around two figures: Mehdi Karroubi, a moderate cleric who was once Speaker of Parliament, and Rafsanjani, the powerful former President, who prizes economic growth over democracy and Islamic ideology. Ahmadinejad also has problems outside Tehran. In the holy city of Qum, south of the capital, Ahmadinejad has offended the grand ayatullahs, who act as the country's spiritual leaders. Most irritating have been his frequent allusions to his connection to the Hidden Imam, the last in a line of descendants of the Prophet Muhammad, who Shi'ites believe will return at the end of the world...
...series of bloody attacks on Shi'ite pilgrims traveling through central Iraq has raised the question of whether the Mahdi Army, a powerful Shi'ite militia loyal to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, should be officially allowed to bear arms as a community security force. The Mahdi Army had protected previous pilgrimages, but has also been linked to executions and ethnic cleansing of Sunnis; it recently stood down its men, under pressure from the government of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, to avoid clashes with U.S. and Iraqi military forces securing Baghdad...