GO TO SOURCE STANFORD, CALIFORNIA, April 2, 2002: Hindu Students Council (HSC) at Stanford University announces a class on “Hinduism in the Modern Era.” For the first time in Stanford University history, a class on Hinduism has been created by Hindu students. The class seeks to provide a clearer and more balanced picture of Hinduism, including religious, social, and political…
GO TO SOURCE JAMMU, INDIA, April 4, 2002: Saturday’s terrorist attack on the historic Raghunath Temple, the first major strike by the Kashmiri militants in past 12 years, has shaken the residents of Jammu. The attack, which killed ten persons, stopped business activity in the winter capital on Sunday, with people preferring to stay indoors. The 150-year-old Raghunath Temple has…
GO TO SOURCE JAMMU, INDIA, April 4, 2002: Hundreds of devotees and priests on Sunday performed mass purification and joint prayers at the Raghunath temple complex here desecrated by two militants who opened indiscriminate fire and exploded a grenade killing three securitymen and five civilians on Saturday. About 40 priests from different temples across Jammu city, assisted by over 500…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, April 2, 2002: The VHP on Monday, states this article in the Hindustan Times, advised Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to confine himself to politics and leave matters of faith to religious leaders. “It is better if he (Vajpayee) confines himself to politics and leaves matters of faith to religious leaders,” VHP senior vice-president…
GO TO SOURCE KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, April 2, 2002: A conference entitled “The Malaysian Indian in the New Millennium — Rebuilding Community” is planned here June 1 and 2, 2002. The main aim of the conference is to reflect upon the position of Malaysian Indians at the beginning of the new millennium, taking into account the many challenges facing the…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, March 27, 2002: In disapproval of recent actions of Hindu militants, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Wednesday said it would be better to “keep a distance” from the kind of Hindutva being practiced by some now. He said when Swami Vivekananda spoke of Hinduism, nobody called him being communal. “But now, some people…
GO TO SOURCE CHENNAI, INDIA, March 31, 2002: The Pondicherry government has ordered an inquiry into alleged forced conversions of prisoners into Christianity, after six prisoners formally lodged a complaint with the state government. Though there had been allegations that P. David, the jail superintendent of Pondicherry Central Prison, was forcing prisoners to convert and was allowing Christian propagandists free…
GO TO SOURCE GUWAHATI, INDIA, April 1, 2002: Mixing religion with an initiative to revive dying art forms is what temple authorities at the Dol Gobindo mandir near here did on Saturday on the occasion of Holi. The five-day-long Dol Utsav here — thronged by thousands, apart from local villagers — is not just a celebration of religion or the…
GO TO SOURCE KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, April 1, 2002: About 400 Hindu policemen and their families offered prayers at the Arulmigu Sri Ramalingam Eswarar Temple in Jalan Maarof, Bangsar on March 30. The gathering was organized by police personnel in the Klang Valley and was meant to bless them and their families in conjunction with the recent 195th Police Day…
GO TO SOURCE CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, March 31, 2002: The Pluralism Project, a long-term study by Harvard University, is offering small grants for religion departments, college students, and high school teachers to extend their research on America’s new religious landscape. The small grants for high school teachers encourages engagement with the religious communities of their own region as an integral part…