Word: secularity
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...member parliament. Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the country's most important Shi'ite cleric, has said any deal with the U.S. must be passed by a big majority in order to be truly legitimate in the eyes of the people. That seems unlikely. If the Sunni-Sadrist-secular alliance can break off a few MPs from Maliki's own Shi'ite-Kurdish block, they may even be able to defeat the proposition...
...painstaking negotiations - was about to unravel, fired broadsides in all directions. At a press conference, he lambasted naysayers as political opportunists who were trying to hold his government for ransom, in effect working against the national interest. His anger was directed not only at the Sunni, Sadrist and secular blocks in parliament, which have formed a loose coalition to oppose the SOFA; he also took an unrelated sideswipe at Kurdish politicians, without whose help he cannot hope to have the agreement ratified...
Consider the debate over abortion. The majority of those who are pro-life come from a religious background, and often simply cite God and the sacred nature of all creatures in their arguments against abortion. For the secular contingent, these arguments are meaningless, and thus unpersuasive. Instead of just opposing the pro-life rhetoric, those who are pro-choice often displace their frustration and resentment onto religion itself, and its interference in political matters. In this way, animosity towards opposing views in the political realm is transferred onto God and religion...
...doctrine to political affairs creates this hostile, polar environment and even gradually alienates the religious. Religions are based on complex ideologies, far more intricate than simplistic moral absolutes that tend to rear their heads in the political sphere. Ironically, this means that, even in a climate of opposition, the secular and religious camps really ought to be able to agree on one thing: to preserve their separation...
Other members of the audience responded positively to Diggs’s secular approach to the issue of abstinence...