Word: secularized
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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That an Islamic hard-liner has inspired such pride among even secular, Westernized Iranians says everything about the political climate in Iran today and shows how Ahmadinejad has transformed himself from a lightly regarded ideologue to a national hero. In recent months the President has used the escalating standoff over Iran's nuclear program as a platform for broadening his appeal at home, framing the West as an enemy bent on weakening Iran by denying it legitimate access to technology. Indeed, many observers believe that Ahmadinejad is reacting to the masses' increasingly assertive mood as much as he is stoking...
...governed by Islamic Sharia law rather than a civil code. And it's not clear how a conflict between Sharia and the Afghan constitution's embrace of U.N. Human Rights conventions that guarantee freedom of worship would be resolved. The country's chief justice, Fazl Hadi Shinwari, has no secular legal education, and had previously been the head of a Council of Islamic Scholars. He is also a close associate of Abdul-Rabb al-Rassul Sayyaf, by a mujahedeen warlord-turned-legislator who once had close ties with Osama bin Laden...
...agreement that the best interests of Hamas lie in establishing a viable government and restraining militants. But some of that agreement may be tenuous, and Hamas, like Fatah, may face internal political troubles as a result of its ascent. Although the Islamist movement is far more disciplined than its secular nationalist rival, many leaders in Hamas opposed the decision to participate in elections, and they will resist the trend towards reaching any level of accommodation with Israel...
...held religious convictions, atheists cannot raise such an argument in order to seek exemption from a law. An adamantly anti-homosexual adoption agency with no religious affiliation would not be able to seek the same exemption sought by Catholic charities but would rather have to attempt to articulate a secular reason why they cannot place children in same-sex homes. Would said homophobic adoption agency be exempted from the Massachusetts anti-discrimination law? I think...
...what a national-unity government would mean. What are the forces that should constitute this government? On that, there is broad agreement -not unanimous, but broad agreement - that it should be formed from the Shi'ite alliance, the Kurdish alliance, the Sunni Arab alliance and across sectarian groups, [the secular block] led by Iyad Allawi. The second issue is that there has to be a process for decision-making in which these forces could participate and that's important for a variety of reasons. There is a strong polarization along ethnic and sectarian lines that indicates a lack of trust...