Define Secular

Businessweek on Mumbai:

It's the brightest beacon of the country's economic miracle, though there's still an overabundance of poverty — and no shortage of the secular strife that often threatens to rip India apart.

Really — secular strife? I had no idea that the various riots and acts of terrorism under discussion were perpetrated by atheists and agnostics. I thought the violence was committed, au contraire, by persons claiming to be under God's command.

Am I missing something?

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UPDATE, DECEMBER 3: I sent an e-mail to Businessweek editor John Byrne a couple of days ago. No reply, but the bizarre word in the article has now been corrected.

Comments

[Greg]

Ah, yes, the tired canard (though only implied here) that most violence is perpetrated by people claiming to be acting on God's behalf. Yes, yes, I know you were commenting on the article's use of the word "secular," but your implication is obvious.

Say nothing of the literal millions upon millions slaughtered in the 20th century alone by such upstanding atheists as Lenin, Stalin, and Pol Pot.

[Rogier]

Canard? I only taste red herring, with the usual side of straw man.

I haven't the time to debunk (again) this oft-heard inanity, so try this: http://www.geocities.com/paulntobin/hitlerstalin.html

[Bill]

I think the original post meant to say "sectarian" but misused the word "secular" instead.

[Rogier van Bakel]

Bill:

Good call, that makes sense. Still interesting though that he writers of the article came up with "secular" instead of "sectarian" -- AND that the Businessweek editors didn't notice/correct the error. I'd hate to draw conclusions about what the slip reveals.

[Jeffman48]

Greg,

Did you type your comment from memory or do you have a cut and paste thing ready for every opportunity, however tangential to the topic it may be, to make the same tired and discredited point?

[hermesten]

No wonder the Nazis lost WWII --Greg explains that all the Christians in Germany refused to murder, destroy, and torture, forcing a handful of Nazi elites not only to wage war against the allied powers on several fronts, but operate the death camps all by themselves. Ole' Adolf himself had to kill Jews at the rate of something like two a minute for ten years --and that sure didn't leave much time or energy for running the country.

And I can't help admire Greg's bold support for Stalin and his atheist army for smiting down those wicked Nazi elites while Germany's Christians sat by helplessly, unable to act against the fascist evil without betraying their God-loving and God-fearing Christian principles. But as my Christian coworkers are so fond of saying, if Ole' Adolf died with the love of Jesus in his heart, he's smiling down on us from Heaven at this very moment.