Source: Associated Press CALCUTTA, INDIA, October 25, 2001: Giant, illuminated images of the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York are drawing huge crowds at an annual Hindu festival in eastern India dedicated to ridding the world of evil. This year many of the displays show the World Trade Center, being rammed by a plane and reduced to rubble. “It…
GO TO SOURCE BENGAL, October 26, 2001: Today about 300 Durga idols will converge on the banks of the Yamuna for immersion, to the accompaniment of fervent cries of “Durga Mai Ki Jai.” Days of excitement and devotional fervor culminate in a grand finale in the twilight hour. The congregation always turns out to be a vast one and to…
GO TO SOURCE GAUHATI, INDIA, October 26, 2001: A powerful bomb exploded during a Hindu festival in India’s northeast, killing four people, including one child, and seriously wounding 24 others, officials said Friday. The bomb exploded late Thursday beneath a stage erected for the worship of Durga — a Hindu goddess lionized for Her valor — in Gauripur town, local…
Source: The Hindu DHAKA, BANGLADESH, October 24, 2001: Several Hindu organizations in Bangladesh observed hunger-strikes across the country during the Durga Puja celebrations to protest against repression of religious minorities, demanding equal rights for religious minorities and strong government action to halt attacks on them. Puja festivities were subdued in capital Dhaka and other parts of the country amid reports…
GO TO SOURCE KOREA, October 25, 2001: Many North Koreans have become Christians as refugees in China, because of a number of missionaries and Christian groups operating near the border. According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), the government in North Korea suppresses all independent religious activity. People who engage in public religious expression continue to be…
Source: Hinduism Today, Paras Ramoutar CARAPICHAIMA, TRINIDAD, October 26, 2001: The ground-breaking ceremony for one of this country’s biggest religious projects got under way yesterday at the Dattatreya Yoga Center (DYC), Datta Drive, Orange Field Road, Carapichaima. The project, when completed in June, 2002, is a 78-foot Hanuman statue costing at a cost of close of US$167,000. At yesterday’s religious…
Source: Hinduism Today, Dr. Hari Bansh Jha KATHMANDU, NEPAL, October 20, 2001: Dr. Jojendra Jha, Secretary General of the World Hindu Federation and a leading Hindu of the country, died today. His death ritual was observed according to the Arya Samaj tradition on October 25. “His death is a loss to the Hindu world,” writes our correspondent.
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 24, 2001: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said India is in touch with Bangladesh in connection with reported attacks on minority Hindus in that country and New Delhi has taken a “serious view” of damage to Durga Puja pandals (temporary festival shrines) in Bangladesh. Vajpayee, who was talking to reporters in Lucknow on…
GO TO SOURCE ONTARIO, CANADA, October 19, 2001: The previously published OMNI journal has undergone a change in the form of communication from a printed format to a web site. A product of the Ontario Multifaith Council on Spiritual & Religious Care, OMNI features articles and reports on the latest issues and developments within the practice of chaplaincy ministry in…
GO TO SOURCE BANGKOK, THAILAND, October 18, 2001: After stepping on a land mine when she was looking for food, Motola, a three-ton elephant, had her left front foot amputated. It has been two years since the accident and the wounded leg has not healed properly. As a result even though more than US$125,000 has been raised for the pachyderm’s…