Word: sectarianism
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Your March 5 cover story: As a Sunni Muslim in the U.S., I am often asked to explain the differences and disagreements between the Islamic sects. Your superb analysis has made my job much easier. It is the most balanced, finely nuanced examination of the sectarian divide I have ever read in the mainstream media. Unlike many other non-Muslim commentators, Bobby Ghosh correctly realizes that the root of the fighting in Iraq (and in other parts of the Islamic world) is not religion but politics. The warring parties cloak themselves in religious garb and quote suras to suit their...
...sectarian wars between Sunnis and Shi'ites would be comparable to a civil war in the U.S. between Southern Baptists and Roman Catholics. If Iraqis cannot tolerate slight differences in practice of the same religion, how can they embrace democracy? One of the foundations of our democracy is the acceptance of different ideologies, including religion. It's time for Sunnis and Shi'ites to get over their mutual 1,300-year-old grudge. If Americans can accept a multitude of religious creeds among their compatriots, then surely Iraqis can accept differences in the same religion...
...rating is at an all-time low of 34 percent, and it’s pretty clear why. Citizens are disenchanted with the war in Iraq, which will celebrate its four-year anniversary on March 20. Each day, headlines seem to report more American troops lost and more violent sectarian massacres. Democratic presidential candidates speak the voice of the nation in their calls for withdrawal from Iraq...
...Muslims. Although relieved to have escaped the grinding violence of Iraq, Sweden's Iraqis face the prospect of having to rebuild shattered lives and find work in an alien society. For many, the trauma of Iraq is inescapable. Recent arrivals like Alaa say they fear being hunted down by sectarian rivals in Stockholm. "We don't know who is who here," says Alaa. In a Swedish government asylum office, he was shocked to see Iraqis in "long beards and short pants" who looked like extremist Sunnis. "I'm scared that among those people who Sweden helps are crazy Salafis...
...initially underestimating him, since little in his background prepared him for becoming the guardian of Lebanese democracy. He is an accountant and banker by profession, and he holds the position of Prime Minister as a Sunni Muslim, as the country's constitution requires. But he is not a sectarian warlord or family patriarch of the sort that usually ascends to the dangerous business of being a top Lebanese politician. He grew up in Sidon, an enthusiastic Arab nationalist like Hariri, who tapped him to be Finance Minister during Hariri's remarkable reconstruction of war-battered Beirut in the 1990s...