In his autobiographical account, Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) made the now famous observation that "those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is" (Gandhi, 1940, p. 371). The history of...

Secularism is generally the assertion that certain practices or institutions should exist separately from religion or religious belief. Alternatively, it is a principle of promoting secular ideas or values in either public or private settings. It may...

This paper was originally delivered as the 2005 NSW Premier's Literary Awards Address. On 4 November 2004 I read a report in the Sydney Morning Herald that I found genuinely shocking, a statement by Cardinal George Pell, of the Catholic diocese of Sydney,...

CHRISTIANITY AND THE SECULAR by ROBERT A. MARKUS University of Notre Dame Press, 99 pages, $15 IN HOC INTERIM SAECULO: "In this transitory world," St. Augustine says in the City of God, referring to the subject of his long meditation. What...

Thousands of flag-waving Turks filled a square in this Black Sea coastal city on Sunday in the latest of a series of nationwide protests against the pro-Islamic government they fear is challenging secular Turkish society.The demonstration in Samsun follows massive protests in Turkey's three largest...

More than 10,000 Turks gathered in two western cities Saturday to protest the Islamic-rooted government, calling for Turkey's secular system to be preserved.The protests in Canakkale and Manisa, two cities near Turkey's Aegean coast, follow massive pro-secular demonstrations in Ankara and Istanbul that were attended...