Word: secularism
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Harvard is a community in which acceptance of others is heavily stressed; yet, fringe groups such as Peninsula do exist, and intolerance rears its ugly head here as it does anywhere else. Unfortunately, religion is often the peg upon which disagreements hang. And therefore a great challenge facing secular universities is to find the balance between respecting the demands of various religious groups and respecting those who may be offended as a result. Today, Yale University sits at the helm of this crucial issue. In fact, Yale may well set a precedent for the role secular academic institutions play...
...Yale Five, as they call themselves, do not claim to be passing a moral judgment on others; they simply want to exercise their religious freedom and abide by the rules that their interpretation of Judaism requires. How much respect should a private and secular institution have for devout, even fundamentalist students...
More questions than answers have always plagued Constitutional doctrine in this area, and it is no different with private institutions, because the line between keeping an institution secular and respecting diverse religious beliefs is fuzzy by definition. But as a private institution, Yale has the capability of setting standards, not only in its own community, but for all of those who look to Yale as a leader...
Mother Teresa had a more controversial side: she was never afraid to speak and act with impunity on matters of the secular world. She repeatedly decried abortion. "If a mother can kill her own child, then what is left of the West to be destroyed?" she once said. At Harvard University's commencement in 1982 she called it "the greatest evil...
...Alcoholics Anonymous--consider belief in a higher authority a critical component of change. Studies have found that Teen Challenge, a Christianity-based residential drug-treatment program with 130 centers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, has a 70% success rate for those who finish the program, far better than secular treatments. Of course, helping the addicted is one thing, solving the problems of the poor is another...