Author: Louisa Lim

Source: NPR

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128544048

Alongside China's astonishing economic boom, an almost unnoticed religious boom has quietly been taking place.

In the country's first major survey on religious beliefs, conducted in 2006, 31.4 percent of about 4,500 people questioned described themselves as religious. That amounts to more than 300 million religious believers, an...

Author: Sam Laskaris

Source: Indian Country Today

http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/84248972.html

History is being made at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

And not just by the athletes in search of medals or personal bests in a competition that may be the pinnacle of their sporting careers.

These games, which run Feb. 12 – 28, are also historic because there has been unprecedented aboriginal participation in the...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Earth Times

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/305767,austrias-traditional-mullerlauf-wards-off-winter-demons.html

Austria's western state of Tyrol is home to the pre-Christian tradition known as the Mullerlauf when men and boys don scary masks with crooked noses and bushy beards to conduct a procession to the sound of rattles and jingle bells in the cold...

Author: Stephen Messenger

Source: TreeHugger.com

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/01/school-for-shamans-to-save-culture-from-extinction.php

While environmental groups and governmental policies are aiming at reducing deforestation and development in the Amazon rainforest to help preserve the world's most diverse terrestrial ecosystem, traditional indigenous cultures...

Author: Christopher Landau

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8399758.stm

What happens when an imam, a priest and a rabbi get into a lift together?

It may sound like a joke, but it is an everyday occurrence at the world's largest inter-faith gathering - and such unexpected encounters are positively encouraged.

The Parliament of the World's Religions has brought together representatives from 80 nationalities and...

Author: Simon Romero

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/world/americas/28venez.html

A medium lit the candles around him. The pounding of drums filled the air. A crowd of pilgrims repeatedly shouted “fuerza” — strength — with such fervor that beads of sweat dropped from their brows. Even his tipple was ready: a helper poured Johnnie Walker Swing whisky into a hollowed bull’s...

Author: Ariana Cubillos

Source: The Post-Standard

Wire Service: AP

Author: Nick Collins

Source: Telegraph

Wire Service: AFP

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatnews/6207476/School-of-witchcraft-opens-in-Taiwan.html

A school of witchcraft has been started by an aboriginal tribe in southern Taiwan who fear that their ancestral rituals would otherwise vanish.

Witchcraft is an important part of the Paiwan tribe’s culture, but the...

Author: Graeme Hamilton

Source: National Post

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1956333

Christian parents who objected to their children being taught about other religions in a mandatory new Quebec school course have suffered a serious setback with a ruling this week that the teachings do not infringe their religious freedoms.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Jean-Guy Dubois dismissed a bid by parents in Drummondville, Que., who...

Author: Gale Courey Toensing

Source: Indian Country Today

http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/home/content/50469162.html

Indigenous films and videos; paintings, sculptures, baskets and pottery; demonstrations of stone cutting, totem making and other traditional artisan skills; workshops, lectures, forums and storytelling; networking with indigenous peoples from the other side of the nearby river to as far away as Polynesia; hundreds of...

Author: Nick Bryant

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8141614.stm

A dispute has erupted in Australia over the issue of whether tourists should be banned from climbing Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock.

It is one of the country's biggest tourist attractions.

The national park which runs the site has proposed a ban for cultural and environmental reasons, supported by the local indigenous community.

...

Author: Fakir Hassen

Source: The Gaea News

[blog.taragana.com/n/zuma-inaugurated-as-south-african-president-after-sanskrit-chants-57666/]

A Hindu prayer started off the inauguration of South African President Jacob Zuma at the Union Buildings here Saturday.

As Indian Vice-President Hamid Ansari joined heads of state of 28 other countries, South African Hindu Maha Sabha president Ashwin Trikamjee recited a few lines in Sanskrit before translating them into English and making a plea for divine...

Author: Kathy Nance

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

[stltoday.com/blogzone/civil-religion/nance/2009/12/local-artist-sends-prayer-for-unity-to-parliament-of-world-religions/]

On this first full day of the Parliament of World Religions (PWR) in Melbourne, Australia, a group of Pagans met to give blessings to four rattles created by St. Louis artist Julee Higginbotham.

The rattles, called “Bridge to the Meeting Place,” were created to symbolize the coming...

Author: Saeed Shah

Source: Globe and Mail

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080611.wkalasha11/BNStory/International/home

If Osama bin Laden is hiding in the remote mountains and valleys of Chitral, he has an ancient pagan race for uncomfortable company.

On the northwest tip of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan's Nuristan province, Chitral has long been thought a possible refuge...

Author: Taiwo Ogunmola

Source: AllAfrica.com

http://allafrica.com/stories/200806110446.html

A public hearing on the African Traditional Religion of Nigeria (ATREN) by the Lagos House of Assembly is to be held to determine whether to declare a public holiday known as Isese Day for traditional religion worshipper in Lagos State.

This was disclosed by the Speaker Hon. Adeyemi Ikuforiji, sequel to the Honorable members disposition toward the request...