On August 27, 2006 The Mercury News reported, "One of the first things Vinod and Sadguna Patak of Gujarat, India, did when their plane touched down on Silicon Valley soil was head to the Jain house of worship in Milpitas...
There is no one central god in Jainism, but prayer is daily. And...
On August 20, 2006 The Baltimore Sun reported, "The women are dressed in kaleidoscopic colors, dancing in a whirling pinwheel and tapping wooden sticks with their neighbors' to keep the beat. Their white-robed priest leads the congregation in chants, offering fruit and fragrant flower garlands to the gods who...
On August 12, 2006 the Star-Telegram reported, "Pointing to a few wild turkeys standing around in a majestic field and later pointing to a couple of small deer in another field, Vachaspat Sharma briefly describes the principles of his ancient Eastern religion.
'Everything's relaxed. We believe that all lives are the same. No violence; everything's relaxed,' said Sharma, a native of India...
On August 6, 2006 The Times of India reported, "Union Minister for Minority Affairs A R Antulay on Sunday said that the Jain religion would be given minority status only after attaining consensus between both the sects within the religion.
'I am working towards bringing a consensus between Digamber and Shvetamber sects. I have had meeting with them and soon, we will be able to...
On July 15, 2006 BBC News reported, "On Tuesday bomb blasts on seven trains killed nearly 180 people in Mumbai. Four days later, in a corner of the English countryside, hundreds of British Indians gathered in prayer at a memorial service.
Europe's biggest Hindu Temple, Bhaktivedanta Manor, on the outskirts of Watford, invited members of eight faiths - Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islam, Jain, Judaism, Sikhism...
On July 14, 2006 The Times reported, "As the monsoon battered against the windscreen of the Ambassador saloon, Hitesh Kumar recited the Namaskara Sutra, the universal prayer of the Jain religion.
'We have to cremate our dead as soon as possible,' he says quietly as he sits in the front seat, sheltering outside Goregaon temple where he had earlier watched his brother’s...
On July 2, 2006 Lansing State Journal reported, "Nearly five years ago, Leela Mohan and her husband donated nine statuettes to the Bharatiya Temple of Lansing with hopes they would be transformed into spiritual fixtures at the site.
Today that day has arrived.
The Lansing couple donated the statuettes after worshippers at the...
On June 26, 2006 The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles reported, "In the aftermath of Sept. 11, Sande Hart grew increasingly disgusted by disparaging remarks some of her friends — both Jewish and not — made about Muslims. The Koran, they said, preached killing Jews and other infidels; Islam was a hate-filled religion, with few redeeming qualities....
On June 20, 2006 Hindu Voice reported, "Leaders of India's Jain community are currently debating whether or not to accept the Central Government's offer of being reclassified as a non-Hindu minority.
Post-Independence, the Supreme Court of India determined that the term 'Hindu' should cover any person following a religion which is indigenous to the Indian subcontinent, because this was the historical meaning...
On May 30, 2006 The Christian Science Monitor reported, "The May 18 declaration by Nepal's parliament ending the country's distinction as the world's only Hindu state was one of the several hard decisions taken by the new government to coax Maoist rebels to join in a peaceful political process. But the move has bred new conflict with the country's Hindu majority.
On May 11, 2006 Ahmedabad Newsline reported, "The Centre may be mulling over according Jains the status of a religious minority, but several leaders of the community have opposed the decision saying that Jains are a part of the Hindu community. Their argument: 'Hindus are not in the minority and thus there is no question of Jains accepting the minority status.'
Despite Minister...
On May 8, 2006 Martin Marty of The Martin Marty Center wrote, "Numbers of excuses are given for the absence of the younger generations in interfaith causes. First, you have to care about faith to 'do' interfaith, and many don't care. Second, the framing of issues was done some time ago by people who are now old; that framing doesn't match what...
On May 4, 2006 24dash.com reported, "The Prince of Wales has unveiled one of London's most unlikely landmarks - a Bedouin tent in the shadow of City skyscrapers. The goat-hair structure stands in the garden of the former St Ethelburga's Church which was destroyed by the IRA Bishopsgate bomb in 1993 and is now a centre for peace and reconciliation....