Word: secularism
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...would be crude and misleading to say that Jefferson's ideas about building illustrate the ideas of the American Constitution. But they certainly grew from the same origin -- the secular humanism that, despite the gaudy bleatings of today's religious right, was their common moral root. Thus the calm, measured, lucid interior of Jefferson's Rotunda, the focus of his "academical village" (the University of Virginia), declares the value of reason and persuades us that humane analysis, not blind faith, is the true measure of a decent society. We sentimentalize Jefferson and his colleagues if we suppose they were...
...religions, or prefer one religion over another." In addition, no tax money should support "any religious activities or institutions." In 1971 the court developed a new threefold test: laws must avoid "excessive government entanglement with religion," have a "principal" effect "that neither advances nor inhibits religion," and have a "secular" purpose. Last week the high court decided that this test is not violated by a law that permits the Mormon Church to discriminate religiously to fill nonreligious jobs...
...broader scale, royalty commands loyalty perhaps because monarchs are the last great icons of our secular age, the only larger-than-life figures who can still quicken belief while dwelling in mystery. If God is dead, long live the Queen! Their titles alone suggest that kings and princesses are ambassadors from the realm of fairy tale: Who ever heard of Good President Wenceslaus or The Prime Minister and the Pea? And if the very rich, as Hemingway said, are different from you and me, then the royals are different from the very rich, separated by some indefinable chasm from those...
Many Israelis worry about the moral cost of the occupation. "There is a growing divide between religious and secular Israelis," says Amnon Rubinstein, leader of the small Shinui party. "We are already two different societies." Meron Benvenisti, head of the West Bank Data Project, believes "Israel is becoming a binational state with two systems of government, one for Jews, one for Arabs." He adds, "It is a system that partly integrates the things Israel wants to integrate, like the land, water rights and security zones, and excludes what Israel does not want, like the Arabs...
...Bakker aides who were later to be sacked by Falwell for mismanagement, would remain in charge. Subsequently, Falwell "betrayed" him, said Bakker, who added, "I mean, I sit back and I say, 'Dear God, how could we have our ministry stolen from us?' " Bakker said if PTL were a secular business, Falwell would be sent to jail for taking over "under false pretenses...