News

Virgin of Charity unites all Cubans — Catholics, Santeria followers, exiled and back on the island

March 18, 2024

Ramon Nieblas fixed his tearful eyes on the small golden statue, a beloved icon of Cuba's patron saint. Whispering, he asked the Virgin of Charity of Cobre for a miracle: Please save his sick son.

"I came to pray for his health," said Nieblas, a Cuban living in Brazil who traveled thousands of miles to the basilica in eastern Cuba, a pilgrimage site nestled in the shadow of the Sierra Maestra mountains.

He sat in Mass, wrapping his arm around 26-year-old Hernando Nieblas, a physician undergoing treatment for leukemia. They were among the thousands who visit the...

Read more about Virgin of Charity unites all Cubans — Catholics, Santeria followers, exiled and back on the island

As Hindu wellness gains in West, chakra healing practitioners root their art in science

March 18, 2024

(RNS) — After her father’s death five years ago, Nirmala Chetty, a New Jersey medical doctor who now goes by Dr. Sahila professionally, was diagnosed with bipolar depression and thyroid issues, among other ailments. She found herself hopping from hospital to hospital looking for relief, to no avail. 

All the while, Sahila was searching deep into her Hindu and Indian roots for a cure. Today, the former internist said, she is “pill-free, disease-free and stress-free,” and credits the scientific powers of chakra healing.

Source: https://religionnews.com/2024/...

Read more about As Hindu wellness gains in West, chakra healing practitioners root their art in science

California Sikhs are driving a separatist movement. India calls them terrorists

March 17, 2024

STOCKTON, Calif. — This farming city in the Central Valley has made headlines for its financial struggles and its annual asparagus festival. But thousands of miles away in India, it is a symbol of terrorism.

To hear the Hindu-dominated media and government tell it, militants funded by the Sikh diaspora will stop at nothing to take over Punjab — the only Indian state where Sikhs are a majority — and turn it into a country of their own called Khalistan.

At the center of the separatist movement is the oldest Sikh house of worship in America: the Gurdwara Sahib...

Read more about California Sikhs are driving a separatist movement. India calls them terrorists

Local Baha’is Will Celebrate Naw-Ruz March 19 to Welcome Their New Year

March 17, 2024

The spring Equinox brings more than just the joy of birds singing and nature blooming for Behnoosh Armani. This cosmic change also marks her New Year celebration as a Baha’i — a celebration known as Naw-Ruz (pronounced no-rooz), which means “new day.”

“It’s a time of rejuvenation … a time of renewal,” Armani said.

Naw-Ruz has a rich history and holds deep spiritual significance for Baha’is.

In 1863, Baha’u’llah — the prophet and founder of the Baha’i faith — announced he was the “Promised One of all religions.”

Source: https://favs.news/...

Read more about Local Baha’is Will Celebrate Naw-Ruz March 19 to Welcome Their New Year

Thousands of churches will likely close down. What happens to all that real estate?

March 15, 2024

(RNS) — If experts were predicting that 100,000 libraries across the United States were likely to close in the next few decades, people would probably sit up and take notice. Certainly, if 100,000 school buildings were going to be empty in small and large communities, someone would be talking about it.

But the possible demise of thousands of churches? Crickets, said the Rev. Mark Elsdon, a Presbyterian minister, author and social entrepreneur who co-founded RootedGood, a nonprofit that works with churches on how to use their space.

Source: https://religionnews....

Read more about Thousands of churches will likely close down. What happens to all that real estate?

BYU’s LGBTQ students spotlighted in new grassroots documentary

March 14, 2024

(RNS) — When, in 2020, Brigham Young University’s Provo, Utah, campus erupted in rainbow-colored protests after the school quietly removed — then reaffirmed — its ban on “homosexual behavior,” David Sant was a closeted queer BYU student afraid to join the fray.

But now, as the director of the new documentary “A Long Way From Heaven,” Sant is spotlighting BYU’s treatment of LGBTQ students who, like him, felt pressured to stifle parts of their identity at the flagship school of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Source: https://religionnews.com/2024...

Read more about BYU’s LGBTQ students spotlighted in new grassroots documentary

Hindu women look to ancient goddesses for guidance on modern feminism

March 13, 2024

(RNS) — Preity Upala has lived more than a few lives. After a career as an investment banker in Australia, Upala moved to the U.S. to pursue her dream of attending film school, eventually landing roles in major Bollywood films like “Bahubali” and in the Hollywood production “Sex and the City 2.” Now, in Los Angeles, Upala is a film producer and podcast host. And if her resume is not varied enough, Upala is also considered a global strategist, called upon by news organizations worldwide for her expertise in international diplomacy and foreign policy.

Source: https://...

Read more about Hindu women look to ancient goddesses for guidance on modern feminism

Muslim parents in Philadelphia worry schools aren't making accommodations for Ramadan

March 13, 2024

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- As Muslims mark the holy month of Ramadan, several schools and workplaces have made accommodations for those who are participating in religious practices.

But some Philadelphia parents say their children's schools are making it difficult to openly practice their Muslim faith.

Source: https://6abc.com/ramadan-muslim-family-philadelphia-schools-religious-accommodations/14521018/

Read more about Muslim parents in Philadelphia worry schools aren't making accommodations for Ramadan

Indigenous people rejoice after city of Berkeley votes to return sacred Native land to Ohlone

March 13, 2024

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Ohlone people and others rejoiced Wednesday over the return of sacred Native land dating back thousands of years, saying the move rights a historic wrong and restores the people who were first on land now called Berkeley, California, to their rightful place in history.

The 2.2-acre (0.89-hectare) parking lot is the only undeveloped portion of the shellmound in West Berkeley, where ancestors of today’s Ohlone people established the first human settlement on the shores of the San Francisco Bay 5,700 years ago.

Berkeley’s City Council voted...

Read more about Indigenous people rejoice after city of Berkeley votes to return sacred Native land to Ohlone