Word: religion
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...dueling court cases underscore a quickening ideological clash over Turkey's future. The country's secularist establishment - the army, judiciary and urban élite - wants to preserve its vision of Turkey's modern destiny by keeping religion separate from government. But the AKP, the most successful party in recent Turkish history, is rooted in faith and has risen to power as more conservative and religious Turks find a political voice. On the question of how democracy, Islam and modernity can coexist under the rule of law, the two sides have radically - perhaps irreconcilably - different views...
...held in awe. One of my grandfathers kept evolutionary tomes by T.H. Huxley and Darwin in his reading cabinet; another broke with family tradition by disallowing my mother's marriage to a first cousin on the grounds that it was "unscientific." Both men held on to their old Brahmin religion, but with a consciousness that it was antiquated and would pass. This thought did not cause them much unhappiness. Integral to their - and my - conception of "progress" was the belief that India would become both a richer place and a more rational one; the superstition and mumbo jumbo that traps...
...Lille, which annulled a marriage on the basis of a husband's complaint that his wife had falsely promised that she was a virgin - a confession he obtained after furiously waving the new couple's spotless bedclothes before still-celebrating wedding guests. Though the decision made no mention of religion, the fact that the couple were Muslim sparked complaints that France's strictly secular state is being undermined by traditional Arab cultural strictures. The court ruling also infuriated feminists, who saw its acceptance of prior sexual experience as grounds for annulment as tantamount to treating marriage as the equivalent...
...Still, the Conseil d'Etat rejected Faiza M.'s application on the grounds the observance constituted "a radical practice of her religion (and) behavior in society incompatible with the essential values of the French community, notably the principle of equality between the sexes...
...naturalization application in 2005. The earlier decision faulted her "insufficient assimilation", and cited her form of dress, virtual seclusion, and submission to her husband as justification. In her petition to the Conseil d'Etat, Faiza M. argued the 2005 ruling violated France's constitutional right of freedom of religion by condemning her observance of Islam. The rejection of that appeal is final...