Posted to Religious Diversity News on September 16, 2016

RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY MAY BE CHANGING BELIEFS IN AMERICA.

Diversity has long been listed on the table of assets that have served to make America the Superpower that it is today. Being a nation of immigrants, it is unquestionable that there are different groups of people with different cultures and different religions co-existing together. For a long time, religious pluralism and diversity has been viewed to be good for religious life overall. The competing churches, synagogues and mosques would translate into a vigorous and vibrant religious culture. However, could the opposite be happening right under America’s nose? Could religious diversity be making America less religious?

Source: Americans with A Diverse Mix of Friends Are Less Religious – World Religion News

Posted to Religious Diversity News on September 16, 2016

Some of the children who rushed to cool off in the pool on a sunny July morning would not have attended camp together a few years ago. They lived next-door to each other, but their South Brooklyn communities often kept their distance.

Source: Jews and Muslims Form Enduring Friendships at Brooklyn Camp – Culture – Forward.com

Posted to Religious Diversity News on September 16, 2016

DUDLEY, Mass. — When Dr. Amjad Bahnassi, a psychiatrist who lives in the central Massachusetts city of Worcester, wants to visit his son’s grave, he braces for the drive to the Muslim burial ground in Enfield, Conn., about 60 miles away. It is the nearest cemetery devoted solely to Islamic burials — and, he said, it is filling up.

Source: Muslims Seek New Burial Ground, and a Small Town Balks – The New York Times

Posted to Religious Diversity News on September 9, 2016

You might remember Kim Davis as the Kentucky County clerk who captured the nation’s attention by refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples in 2015. Davis is back in the national spotlight after three marriage license lawsuits against her were quashed and dismissed on Thursday, August 18.

Source: Same-Sex Marriage Lawsuits Against Kim Davis Dismissed – World Religion News

Posted to Religious Diversity News on September 9, 2016

A federal judge has denied a Native American tribe’s request for an injunction that would have temporarily halted construction on the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline, set to carry crude oil across four states.

Source: Judge Rules That Construction Can Proceed On Dakota Access Pipeline : The Two-Way : NPR

Posted to Religious Diversity News on September 9, 2016

Fifteen years after the attacks of Sept. 11, Americans have grown aware not only of the danger of terrorism but also of the reality that their nation is far less white, Christian and European than it used to be.

Source: Sept. 11 Marked Turning Point For Muslims In Increasingly Diverse America : NPR

Posted to Religious Diversity News on September 9, 2016

Georgetown University just became the first college in the U.S. to hire a Hindu priest as a full-time campus chaplain — an intriguing move for a Jesuit school rooted in the Catholic tradition.

Source: Catholic university reportedly becomes first U.S. college ever to hire Hindu priest as chaplain

Posted to Religious Diversity News on September 9, 2016

U.S. Catholic bishops and Shia Muslim leaders from Iran recently found common ground, taking a cohesive stand against terrorism, religious extremism and weapons of mass destruction.

Source: Catholic bishops and Muslim leaders unite to decry terror, extremism and weapons of mass destruction

Posted to Religious Diversity News on September 9, 2016

NEW YORK (JTA) — The United Nations hosted a first-ever high-level forum on anti-Semitism, as U.N. ambassadors criticized the resurgence of anti-Jewish hatred and called for renewed efforts to stop it.

Source: Envoys Denounce Hate Comeback at First UN Forum on Anti-Semitism – Breaking News – Forward.com

Posted to Religious Diversity News on September 9, 2016

Retired Pope Benedict XVI said that practical governance of the Catholic Church was not his “strong point” but said that many people found “a new life in the faith” during his eight years as pontiff, according to two English translations of excerpts of the book-length interview set to be released in Italian on Friday.

Source: ‘I do not see myself as a failure’: Fresh peeks into Pope Benedict’s new memoir – The Washington Post