But most other state curricula include a far more generic view of religion, one that teaches the basics of beliefs, history, and practice while blending religion, nationalism, and good manners.22 In conversations with graduates of various school systems in the Arab world, one may hear as many comments about the ways in which students do not take religion seriously as a subject as about the content of instruction. And some religious officials, even those suspicious of the Muslim Brotherhood, came to feel that the struggle taking place between the Brotherhood and the country’s new political leadership had become one between religion and secularism and, therefore, that it was necessary to take sides. The barely hidden struggle among Egypt’s religious institutions came into full public view in summer 2016 in the contest over written sermons. In the U.S., biological evolution is the only concrete example of conflict where a significant portion of the American public denies scientific consensus for religious reasons.

158 (1944), the Supreme Court held that a state could force the inoculation of children whose parents would not allow such action for religious reasons. Finally, regimes can use state control of the religious apparatus to propagate ideological messages. It is there that one can best examine a religious establishment that looms both largely and also often incoherently. In the wake of Morsi’s removal from office, the official religious establishment found that it had become a battleground for what was taking place in Egypt. However, in subsequent weeks, as Morsi’s supporters gathered in encampments and demanded his release and return to power, the Al-Azhar leadership, and Tayyib personally, called for dialogue and a peaceful resolution to the crisis. While the largest national protests against Morsi’s overthrow were suppressed in August 2013, protests continued on the Al-Azhar campus all throughout the following academic year. While references to the statements in other countries were rare, they are frequently cited by the Jordanian and Moroccan regimes, who seem eager to associate national pride with fairly liberal statements of religious themes and to enhance the prestige of their own religious establishments. In each case, the monuments were erected with specific intentions and designed to convey a clear message to all who see them.

Palestinian mosques have experienced heavy-handed management, but only on specific occasions. At the time, Religious Affairs Minister Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa led a campaign to shut down unlicensed mosques, bar preachers who did not have official permission to preach, reorganize charitable and support activities undertaken by committees associated with leading mosques, and close mosques during periods between prayers.27 Today, even supporters of the campaign acknowledge that its reach was incomplete, with the monitoring and staffing capacity of the ministry of religious affairs, even buttressed by security bodies, simply insufficient to implement the full control intended. While there have been complaints from religious officials and others about the heavy-handedness of the regime campaign, religious spaces in Egypt-especially mosques and broadcasters-are far more tightly controlled than they were a few years ago. And God said “Let there be no strife pray thee between thee and me for we be brethren”. This name emphasizes that God is eternal and unchanging, and that He has always been present throughout time.

He waded into the realm of religious teachings when, before an audience of religious leaders at Al-Azhar, he spoke of the need to “renew religious discourse.”28 The president’s words were strong-he warned his listeners that God and the world were watching them-but also very general. But while religious curricula in the Arab world have drawn international criticism, the efficacy of the messages they contain is rarely probed. Two international efforts to do so were the Amman Message of 2004 and the Marrakesh Declaration of 2016.23 Both were statements stressing inclusive themes along with strong denunciations of radicalism and violence in markedly religious language. A cynical reader might cite the pleasing but fairly general language of the declarations issued in Amman and Marrakesh and conclude that their main effect was to satisfy international audiences. Islam is the largest of the three main faiths in Bosnia and Herzegovina, making up a bit more than half of the nation’s population. One of the more common Japanese pole arms was the naginata, which consisted of a sharp blade 2 to 4 feet (0.6 to 1.2 meters) in length mounted on a wooden shaft that was 4 to 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 meters) long.