Author: Jane Tors

Source: Nevada News

http://www.unr.edu/nevadanews/templates/details.aspx?articleid=4998&zoneid=15

A unique Hindu Baccalaureate Service was held at the University of Nevada, Reno on April 11. A Tilak or religious mark was applied on students’ foreheads and the graduating students touched the feet of a Swami or monk to seek his blessings.

Swami Vedananda, a well-known Hindu monk from...

Author: Adelle M. Banks

Source: Religion News Service

http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=17939

Every year between 2001 and 2008, former President Bush's calendar was cleared on the first Thursday in May to mark the National Day of Prayer in the White House East Room with prominent evangelicals.

Now the Obama White House is facing questions of inside-the-Beltway etiquette: Should Obama maintain the open door to conservative critics...

Author: Mark Hare

Source: Democratandchronicle.com

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20090420/NEWS01/904200322/1002/NEWS

Had liberation come two weeks later, "I wouldn't be here," said Holocaust survivor Steven Hess. Survival, he said, was a matter of chance.

Hess was among several survivors who told their stories for a first-of-its-kind joint Jewish-Christian program called "The Two Thousand Year Road...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: JTA

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/04/19/1004462/ukrainian-jewish-muslim-leaders-meet

Jewish and Muslim leaders in Ukraine agreed to hold an interfaith conference later this year.

The leaders met Thursday to discuss having more interfaith contact and joint efforts to counteract religious extremism and hate crimes in Ukraine.

Ukrainian lawmaker Alexander Feldman,...

Author: Suvojit Bagchi

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7998819.stm

The Indian government's "war against terror" may cost the Congress party dearly in the election.

Arrests and alleged extrajudicial killings of Muslim youths have angered many in the Islamic community.

"People in power have branded us as terrorists and used us as a vote bank, this cannot go on," said the all-powerful cleric of Delhi's Jama...

Author: Mike Isaacs

Source: Wilmette Life

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/wilmette/news/1532186,holocaust-museum-interfaith-tour-041709-s1.article

Religious leaders of different faiths were among the first people Friday to tour the new Illinois Holocaust Museum...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Bahá’í World News Service

http://www.bahaiworldnews.org/story/707

Egypt’s Ministry of Interior this week published a decree that allows individuals to obtain government documents without identifying themselves as belonging to a particular religion.

The decree is the result of a recent Egyptian Supreme Administrative Court ruling – in a case involving Baha’is – that on government ID cards and...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The National

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090416/FOREIGN/371299798/1011/NEWS

The dedication of the the World Baptist Alliance’s new baptism centre at Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan last month was more than just an ordinary religious celebration.

For many of the country’s nearly 10,000 evangelicals, it was seen as a step towards governmental recognition of them as a Christian...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Army News

http://www.army.mod.uk/news/13807.aspx

Hindus from the three armed forces gathered at Birmingham's Shree Geeta Bhawan temple, Birmingham, on Wednesday 8 April, to hear speakers from their own and other faiths at the annual Armed Forces Hindu Conference.

Organiser Armed Forces Hindu Chaplain Acharya Krishan Kant Attri welcomed guests and representatives from each of the services, who addressed the audience and...

Author: Madison Schmakel

Source: The Daily Orange

http://media.www.dailyorange.com/media/storage/paper522/news/2009/04/15/News/Students.Develop.Interfaith.Group.On.Campus-3710670.shtml

Catholicism was not what Matthew Regan was looking for. The Syracuse University graduate student in library and information science is a lifelong attendee of Catholic school and Catholic...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Ball State Daily News

http://media.www.bsudailynews.com/media/storage/paper849/news/2009/04/15/News/Four-Religions.To.Gather.For.Peace.Forum-3710406.shtml

The Students for Open Minded Academics will hold a Student Interfaith Peace Forum today to discuss what specific religions are doing for peace.

Assistant professor of...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7998797.stm

Police in Nigeria say they have made 120 arrests following clashes when Muslim youths allegedly attacked a Christian procession on Easter Monday.

Sectarian violence erupted in the towns of Gwada and Minna in the state of Niger when Christians were attacked and churches set on fire.

Scores of people were reportedly taken to hospital with injuries.
...

Author: Martin E. Marty

Source: Sightings

http://divinity.uchicago.edu/martycenter/publications/sightings/archive_2009/0413.shtml

America got past the seasonal holidays and festivals relatively unscathed this month. Such an observation may sound surprising, because one would not expect holidays or festivals to scathe anyone. "Holiday," says definition one in the dictionary, is HOLY DAY. "Festival," says the same...

Author: Matthew Lee

Source: The Associated Press

http://www.idahostatesman.com/nationalpolitics/story/730911.html

A planned trip to Cuba this week by a U.S. religious freedom watchdog group has been canceled after the Cuban government did not issue visas to the delegation, the group said Monday, even as the Obama administration moved to ease sanctions on the communist nation.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious...

Author: Chris Morris

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7996827.stm

Hundreds of people have gathered in the darkness in the town of Raikia.

Candlelight flickers across their faces as they sit quietly on the floor. They chant and pray as a priest leads them in worship.

For Christians, Easter is a time of hope. But in Kandhamal, deep in the interior in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, hope is in short supply....