Word: religion
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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From animism to naturalistic pantheism, there are various belief systems that deify the natural world. But should a fervent belief in the need to fight climate change be given the same legal protection as an actual religion? A London judge said yes, ruling this week that environmentalism should carry the same legal weight as religion under Britain's employment laws...
...lone Muslim in Congress, are seeking data on how many Muslims are now serving (perhaps 5,000 out of 1.4 million enlistees) and how many have been killed or wounded in combat. Hasan probably wouldn't appear on such a list, because he didn't specify a religion in his Army file...
...shooting, if any, is unknown. Since well before 9/11, the U.S. military has welcomed Muslims into its ranks, and nearly all have served as fine soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. But since the 2001 attacks, there have been concerns that some Muslims, once in uniform, would put religion above country. In April 2005, Army Sergeant Hasan Akbar was sentenced to death for killing two officers in Kuwait just before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Prosecutors said he launched the attack because he was concerned about U.S. troops killing fellow Muslims. That is apparently the only recent case...
...Vatican, whose influence in Italy has helped maintain a role for Catholicism in public schools, including hiring church-approved teachers for religion hour, lashed out at what it called the latest "ideological" ruling from Strasbourg. "The court wanted to ignore the role of Christianity in forming Europe's identity, which was and remains essential," Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said in a statement on Nov. 3. "Religion gives a precious contribution to the formation and moral growth of people, and it's an essential component in our civilization. It's wrong and myopic to try to exclude it from education...
...leaders in Europe are swimming against a growing secular tide. A 2008 Gallup poll registered a continued decline in Christian faith across Europe. More than two-thirds of respondents in countries such as Britain, France, the Czech Republic and all of Scandinavia responded "No" to the question of whether religion was important to them. The 82-year-old Benedict has made it a centerpiece of his papacy to reverse the decline of Christianity on the Continent, where the faith originated. Last month, he used a Vatican meeting with the new E.U. envoy to the Holy See to recall the church...