SourceDURBIN, SOUTH AFRICA, September 6, 2003: The President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, spoke at the opening of the Hindu convention in Durban. In his address he said, “The process we are beginning today constitutes a significant development in the evolution of our society. There was a time when it was unthinkable that a religion which, according to the Apartheid…
SourceISRAEL, September 14, 2003: This report, thought apparently five years old, from “We Hold These Truths,” a Christian evangelical website, is especially informative in light of reactions to India’s adopted and proposed laws regulating Christian conversion. The report reads, in part: “Some leaders of the Christian evangelical movement here have agreed to give up spreading the Gospel of Christ in…
SourceNEW DELHI, INDIA, September 15, 2003: Swami Gyan Prakash, through his lawyer Amit Khemka, accused the Maharashtra Government of falsely charging him and other innocent saints as the main culprits behind the deadly stampede at Nashik on August 27, 2003 during the Kumbha Mela. Speaking at a Press conference at Press Club of India on Friday, Mr Khemka said that…
SourceMALAYSIA, September 15, 2003: In Malaysia, Muslims come under the Syariah judicial system while non-Muslims come under the civil judicial system. But which system has overriding jurisdiction when a civil marriage breaks up and a spouse converts to Islam? Women’s groups and lawyers recently got together for a discussion hosted by the All Women’s Action Society. Shamala Satiyaseelan got married…
SourceOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA, September 11, 2003: In his speech here today, Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, President, The Interfaith Alliance, said, in part, “The religious press in this land (USA) has an unusually crucial role to play in truth telling by the media. Unfortunately for the most part, religion is involved in most of the big stories in today’s news.…
HPISeptember 17, 2003: Swami Saradananda points out that the correct travel time from Lhasa to Mt. Kailas area is seven days each way by jeep, not three or four as the report in the September 14 HPI stated.
SourceJAKARTA, INDONESIA, September 15, 2003: In the Indian Ocean, between the Cocos and Seychelles islands, an odd-looking outrigger vessel is retracing the ancient “cinnamon route” from Indonesia to East Africa, first navigated by Indonesian seafarers more than a millennium ago. The Borobudur Ship — a 72-foot-long wooden ship modeled after wall reliefs found on the 8th century Borobudur temple in…
SourcePENANG, MALAYSIA, September 8, 2003: About 150 women gathered at the Sri Mangala Nayagi Amman Temple in Bukit Mertajam recently to participate in the Thiruvillaku Puja (oil lamp lighting ceremony). The ceremony, also known as Varalakshmi Puja, was conducted by Rukumani Krishnasamy, 59, who has been conducting religious functions all over the country for the past 40 years. According to…
SourceVANCOUVER, B.C, June 27, 2003: Starbucks could be facing two human rights complaints from two Indo-Canadian employees fired for refusing to remove a nose stud. Aisha Syed, who was fired last November after working at Starbucks for three years, has filed a complaint with the Human Rights Tribunal. “I’m very upset, and I see my firing as racism,” said Syed,…
SourceNASHVILLE, TENNESEE, September 14, 2003: Hundreds of people from different backgrounds gathered yesterday at the Sri Ganesha Temple in Nashville for the Indian Association of Nashville’s annual Indian Festival. “The reason we have this is to let the community become more aware of our temple and to experience Indian culture,” said Chander Kanal, president of the Association. “India has 27…