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A blurred division between religion and state in some parts of the Middle East and North Africa is often alluded to. Terrorist attacks on western targets in the name of Islam have amplified calls for a 'Muslim enlightenment' and movement towards secularisation.

But Karen Armstrong, author of "Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence", argues that the separation of religion and state was a specifically western experience. She says that until 1700, secularisation in Europe would have been like "taking gin out of a cocktail". Accordingly, she says, "aggressive secularisation" should be avoided, instead being allowed to develop "at its own pace and according to its own dynamic".

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