Word: secularized
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...Some argue that, if we acknowledge our less-than-secular state, powerful religious groups in America might use this as an excuse to dominate American politics. It is apparent, however, that they do this anyway. Freedom lovers worldwide who look on American secularism with adoration would be repulsed by the revelation of how great an influence religious and pseudo-religious parties have in the United States. Failing to acknowledge this relationship will prove detrimental to our domestic as well as our foreign policy...
...Under the charade that we ourselves are a secular democracy, we condemn groups that adhere to a brand of democracy that—like ours—is not quite “secular.” And, in order to prevent religious parties from coming to power, we enable far greater evils, such as sustaining dictators like Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak. The result is that we fail both to suppress religious groups and to promote democracy; religious groups merely become more popular, and Mubarak tightens his restrictions on freedoms. Yet our narrow mindset leads us to continue...
...shedding the pretense that we are secular, perhaps we can rid our foreign policy of one of its greatest hypocrisies. Furthermore, if we stop fervently brandishing secular democracy abroad, we can make more friends and fewer foes. Resentment of American foreign dominance will be tempered if we do not try to export, or impose, what we do not have ourselves—a strictly secular democracy...
...time to recognize the importance that many people, including Americans, place on religion, even in government. Only an acceptance of our non-secular past will be able to define America in this way to itself and others...
...there is a comparable secular figure, it is Oprah Winfrey. It's no surprise, then, that the Reader's Digest executive who oversees Purpose Driven Connection launched O magazine for America's favorite talk-show host during a previous tenure at Hearst. Alyce Alston knows that the greatest asset a celebrity like Oprah or Warren brings to a publication is the power of their brand. And so just as O is all about Oprah, from the cover shot to the features inside, there's a lot of Warren in Purpose Driven Connection. (See pictures of a drive-in church...