Word: secularization
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Americans may disagree vehemently among themselves, the religious basis of their identity is not seriously questioned by anyone. If Muslim Americans are not so readily accepted today, it is not because they are believers. In Europe, by contrast, Muslims are resented and marginalized precisely because their religion threatens strong secular values...
Religion and travel are hardly new partners, but Fisher is part of a growing group of tourists seeking to enrich their spiritual lives while enjoying a big dose of good old, secular fun, whether in the Holy Land, on a Christian cruise or touring the missions of California--wine-tasting reception included. "Religious tourism accounts for one of the fastest growing sectors of the tourism market," says Kevin Wright, religious-travel manager at Globus, an international tour company that offers 20 faith-based itineraries, up from eight in 2004. "We're talking about a $1 billion industry...
...Keep the Faith America's campuses are not quite so godless as some believers might think. There are scores of colleges that mix liberal arts and religious values to attract competitive students. Taylor College in Upland, Ind., offers the same courses as secular schools, but students can still minor in youth ministry or biblical languages. Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., is known as the evangelical Harvard for its twin traditions of quality academics and deep faith. Not that contemporary values haven't been encroaching. In 2003 Wheaton lifted its 143-year-old ban on dancing...
...secular politicians with any name recognition, like Allawi, have become marginalized, their voices drowned by the sectarian din. In two general elections, Allawi has failed to get more than 14% of the vote, and the flight of middle-class Iraqis is eroding his natural constituency. He bemoans the growing power of sectarian forces but can only watch in despair. In private conversations even politicians with no pretensions of secularism occasionally wish for a unifying leader. Some months ago, Sunni leader Saleh al-Mutlak and I chatted about the kind of leadership it would take to pull Iraq back from...
...façade that is the all-party national-unity government of Prime Minister al-Maliki. Earlier in the year I had watched from close quarters as U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad worked tirelessly to make that government possible, pleading, cajoling until all the political factions--Shi'ite, Sunni, Kurdish and secular--agreed to get in the big tent together. Relieved, the Bush Administration announced that the participation of all groups, especially the recalcitrant Sunnis, would allow al-Maliki's government to succeed where the U.S. military had failed, in bringing to heel both the Sunni insurgency and the rising might...