Word: secularity
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...range, which was very large, from formal to intimate portraiture, from state commemoration to religious allegory. His big religious paintings, mostly for Flemish churches, are bravura performances, but none of them have the trumpeting conviction or the sheer inventiveness of Rubens'. His best paintings were his portraits and his secular allegories, like Rinaldo and Armida, 1629, done under the spell of Titian. Taken from Tasso's epic poem Jerusalem Delivered, a great favorite at Charles' court, it illustrates the moment when the sorceress Armida falls in love with the wandering Christian knight Rinaldo on glimpsing his sleeping face. The sensuous...
Aside from the Islamic world, where laws based on fundamentalist strictures often forbid access to any entertainment, there seem to be very few places where that is not the case. Even in secular Iraq, teenagers jam the half a dozen or so little shops in downtown Baghdad that sell pirated copies of American rock-'n'-roll tapes and where the walls are covered with posters of Madonna and Metallica...
...these decorations are traditional and secular. In fact, most have their roots in pagan folk rituals. There are no creches or crosses in the Union. But the Union management treats Christmas as if it were another secular national American holiday, like Thanks-giving or the Fourth of July...
...Supreme Court decision of Lynch v. Donnelly carried this nitpicking to extremes, declaring that Christmas trees, being secular holiday symbols, are acceptable holiday decorations on public property, while nativity scenes are impermissible. Presumably, a nativity scene that included a few reindeer and Stars of David would also pass muster...
...extent of Jesuit influence exacerbated past papal mistrust, especially during the 1970s, when the order appeared to many to take a pronounced leftward tilt. Tensions broke into the open when Pope Paul VI decided that too many of the members were involved in secular matters, including politics, to the detriment of their priesthood. Whenever a papal teaching was questioned, Jesuits always seemed to be in the thick of things, whether the topic was birth control, homosexuality or female priests. Soon after he became Pope, John Paul picked up Paul's refrain, denouncing the order's "regrettable shortcomings...