Word: secte
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...spiritual patriarch of more than 110 million members of the Russian Orthodox Church, Alexy II, 79, led his followers for 18 years. Credited with restoring the church in the post-Soviet era, he mended a rift with a rival sect established by Russians who had fled the Soviet Union for the West. In his later years, Alexy was an ardent supporter of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin...
...wouldn't attackers do something forbidden by their religious practice - to take drugs or anything else - that could help them achieve what they consider the far more important goal of their plot in striking a blow for God?" Bruguière asks. "Adepts of the Takfir wal-Hijra sect will adopt what Islam considers impure behavior of enemy societies, like drinking alcohol, eating pork and wild living, to better prepare attacks for those same societies. That's what Mohamed Atta and the other 9/11 attackers did while plotting in the U.S. If terrorists feel jihad justifies impious acts to prepare...
...that we can work through all of that." Still, Pentagon officials continue to express concern about the ability of the Iraqi military to keep the peace as the Americans pull out. Deep historical animosities among Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish groups remain, and local troops loyal to a specific sect won't be as capable of defusing tensions, U.S. officials fear. But Hort said that the Iraqi military "has got a tremendous amount of confidence in themselves, and is doing more and more each and every day that we work with them...
Still, the organizing principle of Iraqi politics remains ethnicity and sect, with all of the main players being those connected with some form of politically aligned military muscle and the prize being control over power and resources. As a result, elections tend to exacerbate rather than resolve tensions, and next year's races will likely see sharp political (and occasionally even military) battles between rival Shi'ite parties in the south and Baghdad; between Sunni and Shi'ite blocs in some parts north of Baghdad, such as Diyala province, as well as between the government (including the Sunni parties that...
...meatless lifestyle never really caught on in the West, although it would sometimes pop up during health crazes and religious revivals. The Ephrata Cloister, a strict religious sect founded in 1732 in Pennsylvania, advocated vegetarianism - as well as celibacy. The 18th century utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham believed that animal suffering was just as serious as human suffering, and likened the idea of human superiority to racism...