World MagazineJAKARTA, INDONESIA, June 28, 2003: Indonesia’s parliament on June 11 passed a controversial education bill that requires schools with 10 or more students from any particular religion to provide those students “religious education in their own faith from a teacher of that faith.” That stipulation falls heavily on Christian schools. While Christians do not generally send their children to…
SourceMADHYA PRADESH, INDIA, July 2, 2003: Colonel Martin, formerly of the British army, was stationed in India during the 1800’s and built a temple in Malwa to Lord Siva in 1883. The story behind the construction goes something like this: the Colonel’s wife became very concerned when she no longer was receiving messages from her husband, whom she knew was…
SourceBOSTON, UNITED STATES, July 1, 2003: During his tenure as the Infinity Foundation Visiting Professor of Indic Studies, Harvard University, Professor Arvind Sharma intensively researched the axiom that Hindus lack a sense of history. He concludes that this unfortunate impression arose out of a conflation between the different concepts of time in Hinduism and must be discarded in the light…
SourceSOUTH AFRICA, June 29, 2003: The South African Hindu Maha Sabha has formed a committee to meet with Education Minister Kader Asmal to discuss the decision to remove Indian languages from the school curriculum. Last week religious and cultural leaders voiced opposition to Asmal’s decision to remove Hindi, Tamil, Gujarati, Telegu and Urdu from the syllabus for pupils in Grade…
SourcePETALING JAYA, MALAYSIA, July 1, 2003: Malaysia Hindu Sangam president Datuk A. Vaithilingam called on Hindus not to fall prey to so-called foreign teachers, fake astrologers and quack doctors. “These people come here and set up an office to earn quick money. They urge people to pay hundreds of ringgit just for the so-called blessings,” he said during the association’s…
SourceTRINIDAD & TOBAGO, June 5, 2003: As planet Earth faces a reduced supply of fresh water, ceremonies such as Ganga Dhaaraa, which took place on June 15, take on added significance. Representatives from various faiths including American Indian, Christian, Islam and Hindu joined together to honor the coming of Ganga to Earth and the necessity of fresh water on Earth.…
SourceJAFFNA, SRI LANKA, June 27, 2003: Saraswati, the Hindu Goddess of learning is standing guard, a retired school principal is all fired up, the computers are in place and war-weary Jaffna is ready for the reopening of its famous library, more than two decades after it was set it ablaze in 1981. The library, a center of learning and culture,…
SourceHYDERABAD, INDIA, June 28, 2003: When the cash-strapped Chandrababu Naidu government tried to dip into the funds of the Tirupati-Tirumala Devasthanam (TTD), India’s richest shrine with an annual income of over US$108,126,000, they found resistance from temple authorities, employees, religious leaders and political parties. Naidu had recently directed the temple to contribute $16,261,000 to build an infrastructure for the Godavari…
SourceBANGKOK, THAILAND, June 29, 2003: Thailand’s Culture Ministry plans to propose the Phanom Rung Historical Park and associated ancient spots for listing as a World Heritage site. A Fine Arts Department official said the decision followed the discovery of an old cultural route linking all the Khmer-style sanctuaries. The official said the department would register the entire area surrounding Phanom…
SourceSINGAPORE, JUNE 29, 2003: Several social and religious groups, led by the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis), are collaborating to raise US$200,000 for this year’s President’s Challenge. As of this writing, Sinda, the Eurasian Association, Loyang Tua Pek Kong Temple and Sri Siva Krishna Hindu Temple are involved in this group effort while other organizations are being actively recruited…