Word: secularization
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Ethnic grudges die hard in Iraq. In towns like Dibagan all across the country, long-simmering disputes between Arabs and Kurds, Sunnis and Shi'ites, and even secular and religious Iraqis are bubbling to the surface--all of which has complicated the U.S.'s plan to transfer power to a new Iraqi government by June 30 and raised questions about whether Iraq will remain whole after it does. And so it was not entirely surprising that the Bush Administration last week scrambled for help in sorting out the mess. In a meeting at the White House, President Bush asked...
...very peculiar role of religion in the country’s political life justify the endorsement this legislation has received from President Chirac and the majority of his cabinet, the legislative body and the people. The law is designed to uphold the uniquely French principle of the secular republican state. It will succeed in doing so by affirming that the public school system, as the apparatus responsible for forging the next generation of citizens of that secular state, should not openly recognize religious differences between its students. Preserving secular principles requires that religious affiliations be expressed only outside the context...
...socioeconomically. For many young women, the headscarf is as much a symbol of repudiation of France as it is a token of belonging to Islam. The intent of the new law is not to undermine cultural diversity—there is no calling into question religious freedom outside the secular setting of public education. It will, however, disarm students of the tools they use in their public schools to define themselves as separate from or even in conflict with each other and republican values. This assurance that students will leave their religion aside as they walk in the door will...
...1990s, however, A.P.U. president Richard Felix envisioned the school as a flagship Christian university and launched its first formal fund-raising campaign. Under Felix, now retired, A.P.U. introduced an honors program and a science research institute, created academic scholarships to lure better students from both religious and secular high schools, quadrupled its graduate programs and nearly doubled undergraduate enrollment. Even as the school grew in size, the mean SAT score of freshmen began a steady climb, rising 72 points in the past five years, to 1,102--82 points above the national average and a sign that more serious scholars...
...sense of being in a kind of Christian haven, away from the world's traumas, that can make the campus seem especially welcoming for protective parents and religious students from large public high schools. A.P.U. professors seem to enjoy a closer bond with their students than those at many secular schools because of the 12-to-1 student-faculty ratio and the faith they have in common. At A.P.U., students talk about visiting their professors' homes and meeting their families. Biologist Milhon describes himself as "like a marriage counselor" for some of his students...