Mosque or Modernity?

Did Humans Invent Modernity?

It's Eisenhower bringing modernity into the countries.

It's an assumption that modernity is a product simply of competition, markets and technology.

This negation is connected with the complex and paradoxical nature of the concept of modernity.

Algeria was committed to progress, modernity and the full enjoyment by women of their rights.

In the medium term, modernity is indivisible you can have all of it or none. The deep technological and social changes unleashed by the forces of modernity create tensions that, in the end, cannot be resolved without appropriate normative and institutional responses.

When a guy who looks like that, in that hat, is the face of modernity, you have a problem.

That initiative reflects Morocco's willingness to create a development model based on a successful association of modernity, democratization and economic openness.

Those people are not even aware of the existence of the United Nations, but they are fully entitled to the benefits of modernity.

Indonesia and Turkey  to name just two are both striking examples of how countries with predominantly Muslim populations can embrace democracy and modernity.

So bread has become from a main staple, a source of calories associated with obesity and also a source of modernity, of modern life.

They, too, would like life, pragmatism, creativity, and even joy to gain the upper hand. They, too, want moderation and modernity, if perhaps not full secularization, to prevail.

Nationalism implied a specific image of society and reality in general a consciousness that was to become the cultural framework of modernity. In its original, English, form it was essentially democratic.

Terrorist attacks are a violation of human rights, which are the foundation of modern societies they represent an assault on the very essence of those societies and thus negate their very modernity.

Women, of course, are not alone in their opposition to Berlusconi, but they made the difference in Milan. They are the incarnation of modernity, animated by a yearning for simple dignity and respect.

That seemed really like a crisis to me, that they had never been able to develop a vocabulary about escape, and about travel, and modernity in this trailer that was consistent with the shell.

They successfully reconciled Islamic politics with the Turkish lifestyle and modernity in general. Cleverly, they positioned the party as conservative rather than Islamist a process aided by the corruption, bickering, and incompetence of the existing parties.

This has led to a common understanding of our situation, namely that modernity has brought us terrible violence, and perhaps that native peoples lived in a state of harmony that we have departed from, to our peril.

SINGAPORE The election of a new pope always sparks debate about the tension between tradition and modernity in the Catholic Church. Perhaps more interesting is the ongoing modernization of the language in which those debates are conducted Latin.

The strident and damaging dogmatism of fundamentalists of every stripe has a common feature a truculent sense of grievance, rooted in fear and resentment of modernity. Christian fundamentalism in America harks back to nineteenth century populism and anti intellectualism.

But, make no mistake about it, religion is a kind of fault line, and when a conflict gets ingrained in a region, religion can get sucked in and become part of the problem. Our modernity has been exceedingly violent.

The resurgence of Islamism is essentially a quest for a fulfilling identity by an ancient civilization overwhelmed by the challenges of modernity. And Israel s emphasis on its Jewish identity has become a formidable obstacle to peace with the Palestinians.

That is why it is imperative to call for a serious and urgent dialogue between North and South, for rapid and eased transfer of technological advances and capital, and for bolstering the development of those nations that seek modernity.

They're saving us by redefining and re imagining a future that defies and blurs accepted polarities, polarities we've taken for granted for a long time, like the ones between modernity and tradition, First World and Third World, oppression and opportunity.

The US, in particular, can be accused of acting arrogantly and unnecessarily humiliating Russia. But the Soviet Union s demise was the result of a long string of missteps, beginning with pre Soviet Russia s inability to come to terms with modernity.

The solitude of the individual facing his faith alone, without collective illusions, and forced to do something with himself in the arid, noisy world tells us something important about the exiled world of modernity and its complex and contradictory problems.

The attack on the towers of Babel was unexpected but not unpredictable in so far as it represented the hatred of Allah s fanatical followers for the symbols of modernity. In the World Trade Center, human creativity and collaboration were universally codified.

As a result, we are obliged to revisit the international collective security system, to thoroughly study the concepts and structures of the United Nations and to provide creative initiatives to address such matters in the twenty first century spirit of modernity.

But China s national interest is to ensure that Hong Kong remains a first rate city, modern and open. Pulling Hong Kong down, in the name of patriotism, can only impede the advance to modernity that all of China needs to become truly great.

The objective of the Plan is to build a pool of administrative civil servants with appropriate quantity and structure, characterized by professionalism, modernity, high sense of morality, sufficient capability for discharging duties and dedication to serving the national development and the people.

After all, Fritz Stern wrote his book to warn of the dangers posed by a romantic abhorrence of modernity. High, often long term unemployment and cuts in social benefits nurture, but do not cause such attitudes their deep seated cultural roots matter far more.

It could be a bridge between the West and the East, between Islam and modernity, and between Israel and the Arabs. But it runs the danger of succumbing to the arrogance of power, which has corrupted and sidelined many strong states in the past.

The victory of Parliament in Kuwait s succession crisis is likely to lead some of Kuwait s neighboring autocracies to stiffen their resolve against modernity and democracy. But Kuwait shows that there will invariably come a moment when holding onto feudal ways is no longer an option.

The approach that Malaysia has taken emphasizes that progress, development, knowledge and good governance as enshrined in the teachings of Islam, are compatible with modernity and yet are firmly rooted in the ethical, moral and universal values that will guarantee the future of humankind.

Those who do not manage to get to other countries, or who fail in the countries to which they have migrated, are in a quandary. For them, the old world of traditional ties and customs is gone, but the new world of modernity remains out of reach.

The ascendancy of the West in the past few centuries created tremendous stress in non Western communities, upsetting all relationships and giving rise to a variety of responses, all of which sought to reconcile each community's sense of self with the needs of a Western defined modernity.

On a more general note, I would like to praise the format and the substance of the Secretary General apos s report on item 38. The concision, vision and modernity that are features of the report augur well for the profile of the Organization in the next millennium.

At direct stake today is Pakistan s future, but its future may determine the political fates of neighboring countries that are also struggling with violent Islamic fundamentalism. Will Pakistan be dragged along the path of Islamic extremism and emergency rule, or finally achieve modernity as a secular nation under civilian leadership?

UKIP s rapid rise has been built on the promise of a return to a British past that never was mostly white, God fearing, law abiding, culturally insular, and narrowly focused on its own national interests. It is a vision that appeals mainly to those who are suspicious of modernity and hostile toward globalization.

Despite the deep economic frustrations of many of its middle class citizens (the truly indigent did not protest), Israel has become a global economic and military powerhouse. The country increasingly lives in its own virtual reality, simultaneously proximate to and far removed from the revolutionary pre modernity of most of its neighbors.

Indians, after all, manage to live in that rare combination of modernity and superstition that defines them as a breed apart. Where else in the world is so much made of an individual s astrological chart, that mysterious celestial database that determines one s life opportunities, marital prospects, and willingness to take on certain risks?

If so, their barbarism demands scrutiny in relation to both historical precedent and to our modernity rather than merely being labeled monstrous (though it certainly is that). The new religious militants, fighting in the name of their particular and peculiar God, seem as fanaticized as the Fascists, Nazis, and Communists of earlier decades.

The availability of commercial genetic tests that reveal roughly how much Neanderthal DNA an individual possesses provides an opportunity to appreciate the complex origins of modern humans. While continuing to highlight humankind s shared modernity and African origins, we must also begin to accept and understand the emerging patchwork nature of our biological history.

Another important question is whether political Islam will move toward democracy and acceptance of modernity or remain trapped in radicalism and invocation of the past? The forefront of this battle is, at the moment, not in the Middle East, but in Turkey nevertheless, the result is bound to have more general significance.