Word: secularity
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Fact check. On the road, Pat Robertson tells the story of children at a Virginia public school who were forbidden to bring Christmas cookies to class because their liberal teachers said that would violate the Constitution. This is one of a host of secular humanist horror stories Robertson loves to tell, with little or no substantiation. When asked for details, Robertson dismisses those seeking to check the facts as being "too literal...
...stand like Rashi and Maimonides," says Israeli Historian Zeev Katz, daring to compare the contemporary rabbi with the two great Jewish sages of medieval times. The assertion that Steinsaltz is a once-in-a-millennium scholar is particularly remarkable coming from Katz, a leader of Israel's association of secular humanists. But the diminutive, soft-spoken Steinsaltz inspires superlatives from all Jewish factions. In recognition of his achievements, he has just been named winner of the 1988 Israel Prize, his nation's highest honor. The rabbi greeted the news with characteristic mirth: "Gee, one gets that a year before...
...self-described "commuter between heaven and earth," Steinsaltz did university work in physics and mathematics rather than rabbinics and had a rigidly secular upbringing in Jerusalem. His father Avraham, a far-left socialist, was an early Zionist and proudly Jewish, but he kept any religious sentiments carefully concealed. Little Adin read Lenin and Freud before his bar mitzvah. Later, however, the family saw to it that he was tutored in the Talmud and attended a religious high school. Explained Avraham: "I don't care if you are a heretic. I don't want you to be an ignoramus...
...villages are sprouting postmodern chapels, delicate Oriental bell towers and high-tech confections of steel girders and stained glass. Not all are distinctive, but Krzysztof Chwalibog, deputy chairman of the Association of Polish Architects in Warsaw, contends, "This is bringing back good design to Poland." Good workmanship too. Unlike secular Polish buildings, which seem to sag and crack even before completion, most churches are being built to last. The same workmen who rarely worry about right angles for the state are lavishing care on ecclesiastical projects. They are inspired by faith and the commitment of most congregations to pay wages...
True, both Jackson and Robertson boast dedicated supporters unlikely to shift their allegiance because of negative press coverage. In fact, such articles may have enhanced the image of candidate as martyr: some blacks may see Jackson as besieged by the "white" media; Evangelicals could view Robertson as crucified by "secular humanist" reporters...