SourceFAIRFAX, VIRGINIA, March 17, 2005: Several social studies textbooks up for adoption by the Fairfax County Public Schools system (FCPS) are being criticized by the Indian community because of the way the books portray the Hindu religion and Indian culture as a whole. The school board is set to adopt the eight textbooks at their March 31 meeting. School officials…
SourceMarch 1, 2005: With the decline of atheism as evidenced when British philosopher Anthony Flew turned his back on his previous belief structure, new spirituality with new and ancient roots is replacing the former movement. Flew calls his new-found belief ’embracing the intelligent design’ and he said, “It is, for example, impossible for evolution to account for the fact than…
SourceIOWA, USA, March 6, 2005: In this news release V.V. Ganeshanathan, a freelance journalist and graduate student at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, shares her religious experiences growing up in the Sri Lankan Hindu community in Bethesda, Maryland. V.V. Ganeshanathan recalls, “We sang traditional thevaram, prayers in Tamil and Sanskrit, and listened to legends of the gods recounted in English. For…
SourceSAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, March 14, 2005: This news release features an interview with former U.S. Air Force Colonel Kirby Knox, a devotee of Ammachi, the Hindu holy woman revered as the ‘Hugging Saint’. Mr. Knox was raised in a strict Methodist family and his father was also in the Air Force. He became interested in Eastern spirituality when he was…
SourceSOUTH AFRICA, March 17, 2005: Members of the Hindu community are in a uproar after viewing Ford’s latest television advert, which they say is disrespectful and misrepresents their religion. The advertisement, which has been screened on television recently, features a man who appears to be a guru with Lord Siva in the background and makes reference to karma. Brindaveni Naidoo,…
SourceNEW YORK, USA, March 16, 2005: Despite 15-year-old Amandeep Singh’s exemplary academic and disciplinary records, he was suspended from his New York state Greenburgh Central School last month when the kirpan he has been wearing to school for 7 years was deemed to be an offensive weapon by his school authorities. The school principal determined at an initial hearing that…
SourceKANPUR, INDIA, March 18, 2005: With the Hindu festival of colors, Holi, just over a week away, doctors have issued warnings to potential buyers to avoid cheap synthetic colors flooding the markets, which they say could be harmful to the skin. During Holi, revelers toss colored powders on each other as part of the celebration. Eco-friendly herbal colors are available,…
HPIKAUAI, HAWAII, March 19, 2005: Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami, publisher of Hinduism Today and HPI, magazine will visit London from March 25 to 29. This will be Bodhinathaswami’s first visit to the United Kingdom since his ordination as successor to the late Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (affectionately known as Gurudeva). He has been invited to preside over the annual Yogaswami Mahasamadhi celebration…
SourceLONDON, ENGLAND, March 15, 2005: India has won a 10-year-long battle at the European Patent Office (EPO) against a patent granted on an anti-fungal product, derived from neem. EPO initially granted the patent to the US Department of Agriculture and multinational WR Grace in 1995. But the Indian government successfully argued that the medicinal neem tree is part of traditional…
SourceHOMEBUSH, AUSTRALIA, March 14, 2005: Dr. A. Balasubramaniam, Chairman of the Hindu Council of Australia, wrote to the Times of India in protest to their article on Lord Siva (see HPI, March 11). His letter states: The brief article by Bachi Karkaria in the Times News Network (India) of March 7, 2005, may seem funny to him, but the vast…