Word: secularized
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...believers--principally evangelical Christians and traditional Catholics--bent on turning the U.S. into a theocracy. Now I am not much of a believer, but there is something deeply wrong--indeed, deeply un-American--about fearing people simply because they believe. It seems perfectly O.K. for secularists to impose their secular views on America, such as, say, legalized abortion or gay marriage. But when someone takes the contrary view, all of a sudden he is trying to impose his view on you. And if that contrary view happens to be rooted in Scripture or some kind of religious belief system...
...unruliness is being fueled by militant religious political groups, many of which oppose secular education and what they perceive as Western cultural influences. In March, extremist Shi'ite followers of the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr beat up several hundred engineering students in the southern city of Basra. Their offense: attending a picnic at which both sexes were present. Female students have been harassed for "inappropriate" clothing; a majority now wear the hijab, or head scarf, to school-a sharp contrast to the prewar period when Islamic dress was rarely seen on campus. "We see it as our duty...
...country has been facing its most deadly spasm of violence in a year: last month alone, attacks killed more than 600 Iraqis, many of them Shi'ites targeted by Sunni jihadis bent on sowing civil war. The country's universities have long served as the bulwark of Iraq's secular society, refuges from the sectarian strife that threatens to rip the country apart. But now violence has come to the campuses. A rocket attack on an engineering college in the heart of Baghdad two weeks ago killed two students and injured 17 others. Bombs have been found at several colleges...
...grave problem," says Sami Mudaffar, Iraq's Minister for Higher Education. "And it's going to need unusual solutions." He's proposing, for instance, to allow a limited number of religious ceremonies on campus-provided that they include all sects. But many teachers feel the universities should be strictly secular. Geology professor Ihsan al-Rawi, president of the Association of University Teachers, warns that "the religion that is being brought into the campus by these groups is the religion of hate...
...President Pervez Musharraf responded with a call to oppose "anyone trying to incite hatred." But sectarian violence has worsened under his reign. Musharraf has been reluctant to act against militant groups, largely to avoid alienating the fundamentalist political parties keeping his secular political opposition at bay. "The government does not recognize the threat homegrown terrorists pose to the stability of Pakistan," says Samina Ahmed of the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based NGO. "Isn't it time the government recognized the price of the game being played...