Word: secularized
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...world, but it may end up costing the Vatican more than just its reputation. A top Catholic Church official inside Turkey says the polemics following Benedict XVI's comments about Islam may cause the cancellation of his November visit to the majority Muslim country, which is nevertheless governed on secular principles...
...Iraq to Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories. In Turkey, the home of Pope John Paul II's would-be assassin Mehmet Ali Agca, the comments struck such a nerve that they managed to erase old distinctions between conservative Muslims, including leaders of the ruling Justice and Development party, and secular nationalists in the country. Several Turkish MPs have demanded an apology. The head of Turkey's government-run religious affairs directorate, Ali Bardakoglu, said that before visiting Turkey in November Benedict "should first of all replace the grudge in his heart with moral values and respect for the other...
...Assad, whose regime is officially secular despite its close alliance with the Islamic Republic of Iran, often casts himself as the champion of radical Islamic movements. Last month, in a speech openly ridiculing moderate Arab leaders, he hailed Hizballah's war in Lebanon as a stinging defeat for Israel that undercut American plans for the region. But it is beginning to look like at least some of the Islamists consider his regime the enemy...
...congressional Democrats, urging him to replace Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld "Creating Don Rumsfeld as a bogeyman may make for good politics but would make for very lousy strategy at this time." TONY SNOW, White House press secretary, in rebuttal "Our educational system has been affected by 150 years of secular thought and has raised thousands of people who hold Ph.D.s. Changing this system is not easy, and we have to do it together." MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, President of Iran, apologizing to students for allowing liberal and secular professors to remain in their posts at Iranian universities. He called for a faculty...
...back to the pre-9/11 paradigm of wholeheartedly supporting "friendly" dictators like Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and the Saudi royal family. If our support for the Shah of Iran in the 1970s or Yasser Arafat in the '90s has taught us anything, it should be that secular strongmen cannot keep the lid on forever. Either we push for change now or we risk a fundamentalist explosion later...