It is still widespread in Egypt despite an outright ban because Muslim clerics condone the practice as in accordance with mainstream Islamic tradition.So it is not enough simply for human-rights advocates to call for a "more fundamental change in the attitudes of those who write the law and implement it".
The Poitiers record no longer survives but circumstances indicate the Poitiers clerics had approved her practice.
Latitudinarian, any of the 17th-century Anglican clerics whose beliefs and practices were viewed by conservatives as unorthodox or, at best, heterodox.
Clerics cannot mandate their practices via law and politicians must respect religious liberty.
The authority of a once-powerful Roman Catholic Church hierarchy was broken by the flight of conservative Catholics (including many clerics) in 1945, and religious practice was further vitiated by communism and the acceleration of industrialization and consumerism.
The practice was unknown among clerics until two years ago, when one monk burnt himself to death in Sichuan province's Aba county, the predominantly Tibetan area in which most of the deaths have taken place.
In the Middle East and South Asia, Muslim activists have fought against female genital mutilation and honor killings, convincing clerics to issue fatwas declaring the practices un-Islamic.
Arguably the most significant difference between the two sects is that Shiites are able to "follow" senior clerics of their choosing, shaping their practices and behaviors around particular ayatollahs' edicts.
Until two years ago, when a monk burned himself to death in Aba county, the practice was unknown among Tibetan clerics.
But Mr Ramazanzadeh's tenure has coincided with an end to the practice of arresting Sunni Kurdish clerics suspected of separatist tendencies.The governor enthusiastically issues permits for the performance of Kurdish plays and music.
I asked how many Christian journalists had been to mosques to attend prayers, had written about Muslim practices, had spoken to sheikhs (clerics) or Islamic scholars or delved into such religious matters.
