In Alexandria, Teresa Levonian Cole marvels at a city where remnants of an ancient past are the foundation for its modern charm.
On the eve of its reissue, Elizabeth Day assesses Mary McCarthy's seminal novel, The Group, and its influence on other writers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/nov/29/the-group-mary-mccarthy
addenda
Subject: AFP: Swiss voters favour minaret ban: exit polls
I was surprised to read in this article that Muslims are the largest
religious minority, at 400,000 strong, in Switzerland.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iDDsYuOT2IORXFSlII4d2bOeYRIQ
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Switzerland
Christianity is the predominant religion of Switzerland (82% of total resident population). 11% of the total population are irreligious. The largest minority religion is Islam (4%, figures as of 2000).
The two major religious confessions are the Roman Catholic Church (42% of the population) and the Swiss Reformed Church (35%). The country is historically about evenly balanced between Catholic and Protestant regions. The larger cities (Bern, Zürich, Basel, Geneva) are traditionally Protestant, while Central Switzerland and the Ticino are traditionally Catholic.
Immigration has brought Islam (4.26% as of 2000, compared to 0.26% in 1970) and Eastern Orthodoxy (1.8%) as sizeable minority religions.[2]. Other minority communities include various Protestant denominations (totalling 1.9%), the New Apostolic Church (0.45%), Hinduism (0.38%), Buddhism (0.29%), Judaism (0.25%), Jehovah's Witnesses (0.23%) and the Old Catholic Church (0.18%). Various other communities account for 0.31%. 11.1% of the Swiss were irreligious as of 2000, another 4.3% refused to make a statement.[3]
According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005,[4]
48% of Swiss citizens responded that "they believe there is a God".
39% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force".
9% answered that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force".
lagniappe
Sam Walter Foss
House by the Side of the Road
public domain
There are hermit souls that live withdrawn
In the place of their self-content;
There are souls like stars, that dwell apart,
In a fellowless firmament;
There are pioneer souls that blaze the paths
Where highways never ran-
But let me live by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
Where the race of men go by-
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat
Nor hurl the cynic's ban-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
I see from my house by the side of the road
By the side of the highway of life,
The men who press with the ardor of hope,
The men who are faint with the strife,
But I turn not away from their smiles and tears,
Both parts of an infinite plan-
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead,
And mountains of wearisome height;
That the road passes on through the long afternoon
And stretches away to the night.
And still I rejoice when the travelers rejoice
And weep with the strangers that moan,
Nor live in my house by the side of the road
Like a man who dwells alone.
Let me live in my house by the side of the road,
Where the race of men go by-
They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are strong,
Wise, foolish - so am I.
Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat,
Or hurl the cynic's ban?
Let me live in my house by the side of the road
And be a friend to man.
