Bangladesh is a secular state, however the United Nations has recognised the country as mainly moderate Muslim democratic country.

Majority support for democracy in a country with no prior secular and nationalist history seems counter intuitive.

Yet Syria has one redeeming feature it is a secular country that traditionally recoils from Islamic fundamentalism.

The liberal elite and intelligentsia rail against the dictator, confident that their country is primed for secular democracy.

Since then, public schools have been secular, but private Catholic schools are among the best in the country.

Enforcing a secular constitution before elections does not guarantee a secular outcome.

Secular Stagnation for Free

Turkey s Secular Fundamentalist Threat

Pakistan s homegrown terrorist groups know that the country is at a tipping point, and are attacking candidates and voters who favor a secular state.

In 2009 a new body was formed, the Australian Secular Lobby , to promote secular education in Australia.

According to the organization, the Geração à Rasca Protest is a non partisan, secular and peaceful protest, aiming to strengthen participatory democracy in the country .

The Problem With Secular Stagnation

The first is secular dictatorship.

And when the colonial period ended, what you had in place of that was, generally, secular dictators, which say they're a country, but did not bring democracy to the country, and established their own dictatorship.

If the First Lady wears a headscarf, maintained the secular minded elite, the whole secular system could be undermined.

That does not bode well for a domino effect, as no other Arab country has either a strong middle class or a tradition of modern, secular government.

In Iran, apart from senior commanders, who were either killed or fled the country, the Shah s powerful, staunchly secular army switched sides to Khomeini s revolutionary government virtually overnight.

Moreover, some secular intellectuals demonized the Brotherhood.

In Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh now has a charismatic leader whose massive electoral mandate augurs well for creating the type of strong, secular government that the country needs.

Revitalizing EU membership talks is the only way to reconstitute trust between the government, liberals, and the secular establishment, and in turn reinvigorate the reform process in the country.

It's a victory for secular democracy in India.

Moreover, Kazakhstan, though a Muslim majority country, has established the type of secular, multi ethnic, and multi religious polity that the West is seeking to encourage throughout the Muslim world.

In a move some say is designed to bring the secular predominantly Muslim country closer to Europe, Azerbaijan follows a number of other countries in banning religious head scarves in schools.

Drawing Kazakhstan westward would help embed this secular tradition.

But longer term secular factors also play a role.

Why has religion returned to secular and democratic politics?

They ensure that India remains secular, democratic and pluralistic.

Secular explanation A third explanation promoted by religious Jews is that the overwhelmingly secular leadership in Israel sought to undermine the influence of religious elements in Israeli politics and society by allowing more secular Jews and their non Jewish spouses to immigrate.

On cue, the hashtag شريعة_العلمانية (Secular Law) soon came up, and was populated with suggestions on what this new sharia (law) for secular people should be.

So, yeah, Egypt, as a choice makes sense (biggest arab islamic country, women can drive here, we are secular but not really, and no bowing has occured between Obama and Mubarak yet).

Most of us live in a secular, liberal, disenchanted world.

Swedes are overwhelmingly secular and indifferent toward the Swedish church.

Suddenly, however, this secular commitment is no longer so clear.

Another comment reads Ennahda's (Secular American) agenda is now revealed.

Egyptians are drafting their very own secular law on Twitter.

Although Tunisia is a country with a large Muslim majority and the Tunisian Constitution states that Islam is the state religion, Tunisian society is one of the most secular in the Muslim world.

Sandmonkey Because Islamists view secular people as being unIslamic, and see that non Muslims are controlling their religious rituals, who wants to write with me a secular law?

Finally, there is Britain, usually seen as perhaps the most secular country in Western Europe, and thus the least likely candidate to see the return of religion of any kind (outside its Muslim community).

The Catholic church encouraged a boycott of the new schools so, though by 1883 3,885 secular schools had opened across the country, attendance in private Catholic schools had risen from 13 to over 60 .

And these are just some of his opinions on secular matters.

As with a secular dictatorship, Islamic dictatorship is ugly and destructive.

Nor does the old secular religious divide have much salience anymore.

Turkey, however, scores 24, worse even than Tunisia s authoritarian secular regime.

If so, the referendum s outcome should convince Erdoğan that the balance of power in the country has changed for good, and that the days of strong arm tactics by the secular establishment are gone forever.

Her overwhelming triumph has vindicated her belief that ordinary Bangladeshis want a secular and stable future for their country one that, in contrast to Pakistan, is characterized by warm relations with their giant neighbor, India.