Word: religion
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Bible last places the Ark in Solomon's temple, which Babylonians destroyed in 586 BC. Scholars debate its current locale (if any): under the Sphinx? Beneath Jerusalem's Temple Mount (or, to Muslims, the Noble Sanctuary)? In France? Near London's Temple tube station? (See the top 10 religion stories...
...Pakistan, made up of squabbling ethnic groups with several distinct languages and cultures, has long used Islam to cement a national identity. Those who speak for religion wield enormous influence over a nuclear-armed nation of 165 million that is a key U.S. ally in the global war on terror. This has prompted a race to define the country's founding principles. That contest culminated in the streets of Islamabad last spring when the female madrasah students launched their vigilante campaign against CD shops and massage parlors. "The government point of view is that we challenged the writ...
...large, common Pakistanis see no need to do so. As was made clear in the election, they vote for the mainstream political parties that espouse moderate agendas. Many follow a peaceful, tolerant version of Sufism. Most of the country's educated élite wants to keep religion in the mosque and out of government. Yet when firebrand clerics such as Mullah Fazlullah, a militant leader who spews antigovernment diatribes from his pirate radio station, calls for jihad, threatens girls who go to school and boasts squadrons of suicide bombers ready to detonate explosives, the moderate mullahs stay silent. Virtually unhindered...
...ideas put into practice. He died nine years before Pakistan became independent on Aug. 14, 1947. Ever since, Pakistan has staggered between bouts of inept civilian government punctuated by military coups. In 1971, East Pakistan seceded in a brutal civil war that saw hundreds of thousands dead. Religion, which Iqbal theorized should have no place in government, was an easy source of political legitimacy for leaders struggling to hold what was left of the fractious country together. The success of Ayatullah Khomeini's Islamic revolution in neighboring Iran eight years later launched a revival of conservative Islam, including in Pakistan...
...adultery and thieves faced the amputation of hands, as the ideal Islamic state, they feel conflicted about throwing it out entirely. "Hardly any Muslim will say, No, I do not want Shari'a," says Najam Sethi, a top Pakistani newspaper editor. "To say that would imply negation of your religion...