Author: Gary Scharrer

Source: The Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6624521.html

Christmas will stay in Texas textbooks, State Board of Education members said Thursday while reviewing early recommendations for new social studies standards.

The board will not approve the new curriculum standards for public schools until next year, but wanted to assure constituents they will not accept a...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/hampshire/hi/people_and_places/religion_and_ethics/newsid_8263000/8263258.stm

The Vedic Society Hindu Temple in Southampton was the first of its kind in the UK to be built entirely from scratch, and this year it has marked 25 years in the city.

A group of people came to Southampton in the 80s and wanted to create a centre...

Author: Thomas Meagher

Source: NJ.com

http://www.nj.com/news/local/index.ssf/2009/09/hindu_festival_celebrations_ki.html

The celebrations start when darkness falls. A kaleidoscope of saris swirl as drummers play traditional rhythms mixed with modern beats until well after midnight. Asian Indians from around the state will gather in the coming weeks for Navratri, a Hindu harvest festival. The revelry honors the goddess...

Author: Staff Writer

http://despardes.com/?p=7176

A small village in the Uttar Pradesh State is setting an example of religious amity, with its Hindu residents hosting iftar for their fellow Muslim villagers.

“Serving Muslims during the holy month gives us a unique sense of satisfaction,” Indrajeet Pandey, a 48-year-old resident of Naubatpur village, told Indo Asian News Service (IANS) on Thursday, September 17.

In Ramadan, the holiest month in Islamic calendar, the...

Author: Priya Saxena

Source: Collegiate Times

http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/14152

Plans to build a cultural center and apartments at 102 Mountain Breeze Dr. in Blacksburg have been resubmitted to town officials and will be considered at meetings beginning next week.

The cultural center will function as a religious center, but it will not focus on one religion. Rather, the center will provide a place to practice Hinduism, Sikhism and...

Author: AP

Source: Syracuse.com

Author: Raveena Aulakh

Source: The Toronto Star

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/692189

Lord Ayyappan has a new home.

An eponymous temple devoted to the Hindu god was consecrated in Scarborough with an elaborate ceremony spanning the long weekend and attended by an estimated 50,000 people from across North America.

"It's a very important day for us," said Thiru Sivasamy, devotee, volunteer and treasurer of the temple board, during...

Author: Sean Yoong

Source: Syracuse.com

Wire Service: AP

Author: Dalson Chen

Source: Canada.com/The Windsor Star

http://www.canada.com/life/Hindu+community+marks+festival/1961618/story.html

Hundreds of Windsor's Hindu faithful gathered at the edge of the Detroit River on Thursday night to celebrate the end of their annual festival for Ganesh -- the elephant-headed deity considered the most widely revered in the Hindu pantheon.

Known as Ganesh Visarjan, the climax of the...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Little About

http://www.littleabout.com/news/31717,religious-statesman-zed-continuing-story-harvard-university-pluralism-project.html

Religious statesman and Hindu leader Rajan Zed is a “continuing story” in “The Pluralism Project at Harvard University” database.

Other “continuing stories” (...

Author: Jonathan Allen

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/nyregion/28choir.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

With less than an hour to go before the newly formed Hindu temple choir would make its debut, there was time for only a few final run-throughs of the hymn that had been prepared.

“Don’t rush!” implored the conductor, Michael Sample, as the singers surged ahead of the...

Author: Richard Springer

Source: India-West

http://www.indiawest.com/readmore.aspx?id=1400&Sid=1

A Democratic Party activist and a U.S. Army soldier currently deployed in Afghanistan have co-founded Hindu Democrats, a Virginia-based political action committee aiming “to mobilize the Indian American bloc in the United States” to support Democratic Party candidates through the “representation of Hindu American values in American...

Author: Lisa Miller

Source: NEWSWEEK

America is not a Christian nation. We are, it is true, a nation founded by Christians, and according to a 2008 survey, 76 percent of us continue to identify as Christian (still, that's the lowest percentage in American history). Of course, we are not a Hindu—or Muslim, or Jewish, or Wiccan—nation, either. A million-plus Hindus live in the United States, a fraction of the billion who live on Earth. But recent poll data show that conceptually, at least, we are slowly becoming more like...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8198770.stm

A US congressional body has put India on a list of countries which have failed to protect its religious minorities adequately.

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom says India was added to the list because of a "disturbing increase" in religious violence.

It mentioned the anti-Christian and anti-Muslim riots in Orissa and Gujarat in...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Times of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/world/indians-abroad/Hindu-woman-priest-in-Obamas-advisory-council/articleshow/4891333.cms

Appointed by US President Barack Obama as a member of a faith-based advisory council of the White House, Anju Bhargava, a banker and a Hindu priest, hopes to remove the ignorance about Hinduism...