Source: Religion News Service BERLIN, GERMANY, September 29, 2009: German religious freedom laws require a school to let a devout Muslim student set aside some time during the school day for prayers, a Berlin court ruled. The 16-year old student had argued that he had already compromised with the school by limiting the number of prayers during the school day…
Source: news.bbc.co.uk LEICESTER, UK, October 5, 2009: Thousands of people visited Leicester for the turning on of the Belgrave Road Diwali lights, one of the biggest such celebrations outside India. Lord Mayor Roger Blackmore performed the ceremony on Sunday evening, which was followed by a fireworks display. The city’s celebrations of the Hindu festival of light are thought to be…
Source: www.ft.com NEW DELHI, INDIA, September 30, 2009: The Swiss penmaker Montblanc has unveiled a gold-and-silver fountain pen to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi. The limited-edition pen, priced at US$23,000, has an 18-carat solid gold, rhodium-plated nib, engraved with Gandhi’s image, and “a saffron-coloured mandarin garnet” on the clip. Dilip R. Doshi, chairman of Entrack, Montblanc’s distributor in India, said the pen…
Source: www.indiawest.com UNITED STATES, August 20, 2009: A Democratic Party activist and a U.S. Army soldier currently deployed in Afghanistan have co-founded Hindu Democrats, a Virginia-based political action committee aiming “to mobilize the Indian American bloc in the United States” to support Democratic Party candidates through the “representation of Hindu American values in American politics.” Hindu Democrats executive director and…
Source: www.trinidadexpress.com TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, October 3, 2009: Ramleela, the burning of the evil king Ravana, is a symbolic victory of good over evil. The dramatic enactment of the Hindu sacred text, the Ramayan, is a ten-day annual event that precedes Divali, celebrated this year on October 17. Secretary of the National Ramleela Council, Indra Pooran, said the community festival…
Source: Religion News Service [HPI note: This is interesting to Hindus as representative of the developments of allowing ¬†religious identity in European classroom. Not long ago, a Hindu girl had problems for expressing her religion by wearing a nose ring.] BERLIN, GERMANY, September 29, 2009: German religious freedom laws require a school to let a devout Muslim student set aside…
Source: www.hinduismtoday.com Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man. Rabindranath Tagore, (1861-1941) celebrated Bengali writer who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913.
Source: www.hindustantimes.com HIMACHAL PRADESH, INDIA, September 24, 2009: Seven antique statues have been stolen from a Himachal Pradesh temple, making it the second such theft in a less than a week, police said on Tuesday. The statues were found missing Monday from the Keem temple near Rampur town in Shimla district, about 100 miles from Shimla. Most of the statues…
Source: Religion News Service UNITED STATES, September 30, 2009: The number of American adults who do not identify with a particular religion is growing and may comprise more than 20 percent of the U.S. population in two decades, according to a new study. Conducted by researchers at Trinity College, the study, entitled “American Nones: The Profile of the No Religion…
Source: news.bbc.co.uk MEGHALAYA, INDIA, September 27, 2009: A small village in the north-eastern Indian state of Meghalaya has become the envy of its neighbors. Large crowds of visitors have been thronging to the village curious to find out why Mawlynnong has earned the reputation for being arguably the cleanest and best educated in India. About 55 miles from the state…