Word: secularity
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...contentious debate that not only mirrors the deep political divisions among Israelis but also is reminiscent of the intense dialogue that preceded the country's founding in 1948. Back then, Zionists around the world hashed out such fundamental questions as whether Israel should be capitalist or socialist, secular or theocratic...
...freedom. It was no accident that President Bush sent Syrian President Hafez Assad a warm congratulatory message on the 44th anniversary of Syrian independence last week. Syria's influence over Hizballah has been partly limited by the fact that Damascus is a supporter of the Shi'ite Amal, a secular Muslim group that continues to fight fierce battles with the fundamentalist Hizballah. But Hussein Musawi, leader of a pro-Syrian faction within Hizballah, is now believed to have taken control of the American hostages held by the IJLP...
Besides writing and lecturing, Hartman directs an advanced institute for Judaic scholarship, where -- rare for Israel -- orthodox and secular thinkers study together in an atmosphere of mutual respect. Appended to the institute is a high school, an expression of Hartman's intention to transform Israeli religious thought from the bottom up. The students there insist (not unlike John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as the Blues Brothers) they are on a mission from God. "At most places religious education is authoritarian," one 17-year-old said recently. "Here we are encouraged to think for ourselves. When we graduate we will...
...club: that is Hartman's mission. Ironically, had the great nation-building Labor Party leaders better appreciated what makes Israel special, Hartman's mission might not have been necessary. "Our founders saw religion as the enemy of progress," says Hartman. "They wanted to create an indigenous, secular Israeli. Religious concerns were ceded to the ultra-orthodox, who have never understood the need for Judaism to incorporate democratic values." Because Israeli society failed to develop a compelling spiritual option to replace the victim-oriented philosophy of the East European ghetto, Labor's present leaders are constantly beholden to a religious perspective...
...work, we gathered at the Nutall Volunteer Fire Department for a lesson in local history from Dennis McCutcheon, a local 4-H agent who feverishly promoted the notion that hand-crafted items could be the salvation of West Virginia's moribund economy. To hear McCutcheon get steamed about abortion, secular humanism and the abolition of corporal punishment in schools, you might think you were in the heart of Reagan country. You might think this, that is, until you heard him tell stories of the life-and-death struggle against the coal companies...