Page 44 - Religion Belief
Sacred yet erotic: Radha and her love for Krishna (Book Review)
Book: Finding Radha - The quest for love; Edited by: Malashri Lal and Namita Gokhale; Publisher: Penguin Random House India; Price: Rs 399; Pages: 265
Punjab Governor's greetings on Shivratri
Punjab Governor and Administrator of Chandigarh V.P. Singh Badnore on Sunday wished the people on the occasion of Maha Shivratri and appealed to them to celebrate it in a spirit of harmony.
Lankan PM offers prayers at Lord Balaji temple
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe Sunday offered prayers at the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara at nearby Tirumala. On arrival at the 'mahadwaram' (main entrance), the island nation's United National Party president Wickremesinghe and his wife Maitree were accorded a traditional welcome by temple priests and top functionaries of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), which governs the 2,000-year old shrine, a temple official told PTI. Before paying obeisance to the presiding deity of Lord Venkateswara, the 73-year old Wickremesinghe performed ages-old 'Tulabharam' ritual. As part of 'Tulabharam' ritual, devotees sit in a balance and offer grocery items, precious metals or money equal to their body weight, the temple official said. Later, the same is made as an offering to the God at the hill temple, the official added. The Sri Lankan prime minister, his wife and other dignitaries later worshipped Lord Venkateswara. They spent about an hour in the temple. After .
Muslim family in Assam looking after 500-yr-old Shiva temple for generations: Caretaker
A Muslim family is reportedly looking after a 500-year-old Shiva temple at Rangamahal village in Guwahati for generations. Both Muslims and Hindus in the area have firm belief in the deity and throng the temple for offering prayers and doing rituals.The caretaker, Matibar Rehman, said that the deity of 'Lord Shiva' is like his "maternal grandfather"."I call him 'Nana' (maternal grandfather). It's a 500-year-old temple and our family looks after the temple. People from both the religions - Hindus and Muslims - come here to offer prayers," said Rehman."Muslims perform 'dua' while Hindus perform 'puja' here. Everyone's wishes are fulfilled here," he said.Rehman said that he himself offers 'dua' in the 'Shivalaya' or the Shiva temple.The family has been the caretaker of the temple and is looking after it for generations. The temple is considered an example of the Hindu-Muslim unity in the region.
Muslim family in Assam has been looking after 500-yr-old Shiva temple since generations
A Muslim family is reportedly looking after a 500-year-old Shiva temple located at Rangamahal village in Guwahati since generations. Both Muslims and Hindus of the area have firm believe in the deity and throng the temple for offering prayers and doing rituals.The caretaker, Matibar Rehman, said that the deity of 'Lord Shiva' is like his maternal grandfather."I call him Nana (maternal grandfather). It's a 500-year-old temple, our family looks after the temple. People from both the religions - Hindu and Muslim - come here to offer prayers," said Matibar Rehman, the caretaker."Muslims perform 'dua' while Hindus perform 'puja' here. Everyone wishes are fulfilled here," he said.Rehman said that he himself offers 'dua' in the 'Shivalaya' or the Shiva temple.The family has been the caretaker of the temple and is looking after it since generations. The temple is considered as the epitome of the Hindu-Muslim unity in the region.
Strasbourg's Old Synagogue memorial stone hit by 'vandalism'
A memorial marking the site of Strasbourg's Old Synagogue, destroyed by the Nazis during World War II, was apparently vandalised overnight, local officials said Saturday -- 11 days after a nearby Jewish cemetery was desecrated. Police have opened a probe and a source said investigators would consult surveillance video and interview witnesses "to determine the origin of the incident, whether intentional or accidental". Strasbourg deputy mayor Alain Fontanel told journalists in the eastern French city the incident was an "act of vandalism" that bore "all the signs of anti-Semitism". Earlier on Facebook, he said it was "very probably, unfortunately, a new act of anti-Semitism in our city". The region has witnessed a rise in anti-Semitic acts, the latest on February 19 when 96 graves were daubed with swastikas at a Jewish cemetery in Quatzenheim, northwest of Strasbourg. Before heading to the memorial for an inspection on Saturday, mayor Roland Ries wrote on Facebook: "Once again, enough .
3 big US churches in turmoil over sex abuse, LGBT policy
It has been a wrenching season for three of America's largest religious denominations, as sex-abuse scandals and a schism over LGBT inclusion fuel anguish and anger within the Roman Catholic, Southern Baptist and United Methodist churches. There's rising concern that the crises will boost the ranks of young people disillusioned by organized religion. "Every denomination is tremendously worried about retaining or attracting young people," said Stephen Schneck, a political science professor at Catholic University. "The sex-abuse scandals will have a spillover effect on attitudes toward religion in general. I don't think any denomination is going to not take a hit." For the U.S. Catholic church, the clergy sex-abuse scandal that has unfolded over two decades expanded dramatically in recent months. Many dioceses have become targets of investigations since a Pennsylvania grand jury report in August detailed hundreds of cases of alleged abuse. In mid-February, former Cardinal Theodore ...
Lankan PM to offer prayers at Venkateswara shrine tomorrow
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has arrived here to offer prayers at the Lord Venkateswara shrine in Tirumala on Sunday, officials said. Wickremesinghe accompanied by his wife Maitree and other dignitaries landed at Renigunta airport, 20 km from here, by a special helicopter from Chennai and reached the holy hills by road. They would stay for the night at the heavily guarded Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) guest house, a temple official told PTI. The TTD administers the over 2000-year-old shrine. Wickremesinghe would offer prayers in the early hours of Sunday. He would participate in the Suprabhatha ritual (priests chanting Vedic hymns to wake up the Lord) conducted daily in the early hours, the official said. It will be Wickremesinghes fourth visit as prime minister to the sacred hills. Earlier he had offered prayers in 2018, 2016 and 2002, the official added.
Delhi court adjourns hearing on criminal defamation complaint against Tharoor for March 6
A Delhi court on Saturday adjourned for March 6 the hearing on a criminal defamation complaint against Congress leader Shashi Tharoor over his alleged remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.On October 28 last year, Tharoor quoted an unnamed Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) source and launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, comparing him with a scorpion sitting on a 'Shivling'.The complaint against Tharoor was filed by Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajeev Babbar last year in Delhi's Patiala House Court.He had said that Tharoor's comment hurt his religious sentiments.Babbar, in his complaint, stated, "I am a devotee of Lord Shiva. However, the accused (Tharoor) completely disregarded the sentiments of crores of Shiva's devotees, both in India and outside the country.""The complainant's religious sentiments were hurt and the accused deliberately did this malicious act, intending to outrage religious feeling of Lord Shiva devotees by insulting their ...
Sushma meets UAE, Saudi Arabia foreign ministers
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday met UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and thanked him for inviting India as a "guest of honour" for the first time at the 46th session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in its golden jubilee year.
India, Pakistan trade fire on LoC in Poonch, Rajouri
Indian and Pakistani troops exchanged heavy fire on the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch and Rajouri districts on Friday.
Sushma's veiled attack on Pakistan at OIC, says terror camps must go
In an obvious attack on Pakistan, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that states which shelter and fund terrorists must be told to dismantle terror camps on their soil.
No need for law to manage church properties in Kerala: CPI (M)
The ruling CPI(M) here said Friday that there was no need to bring a law to manage temporal properties of the church in the state. CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said this while rejecting allegations of various church groups, including the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC), that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government headed by Pinarayi Vijayan was bringing in a new law to govern church properties. The existing laws and church laws were enough to deal with matters related to such properties and there was no need for enacting a new law for the purpose, Balakrishnan told reporters here. He alleged there was a propaganda by certain groups, claiming that the government was going ahead with its plan to introduce the bill, widely known as the Kerala Church Act, even after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan made it clear that there was no such move from the government. The church groups, including Syro-Malabar Church and Orthodox Church, started protesting against the law .
Embattled Vatican envoy faces new sex assault claim in Canada
Vatican diplomat Luigi Ventura -- who is already under investigation in France over alleged sexual assault -- is now facing a similar complaint in Canada, the Holy See's embassy in Ottawa said Thursday. Luigi Ventura, currently the Vatican's envoy to France, has been accused of molesting an official at the Paris mayor's office. The 74-year-old Italian archbishop served as the envoy to Canada from 2001 to 2009. He now faces a "single" complaint filed in Ottawa, the embassy told AFP, adding that the complaint has been reported to officials in Vatican City. According to the Canadian website Presence, which specializes in religious news and first reported on the complaint, Ventura allegedly groped a man in 2008 at the shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre in Quebec province. The alleged victim, then 32, was helping to serve Ventura during a banquet for the Feast of Sainte Anne. The man said that Ventura touched his buttocks at least twice, according to Presence. The man filed his complaint ...
India addresses OIC for the first time, says terrorism destroying lives, destabilising regions
In a major diplomatic achievement, India for the first time addressed the OIC meeting on Friday here, and asserted that the war against terrorism, which was destabilising regions and putting the world at great peril, was not against any religion. India's participation came despite strong demand by Pakistan to rescind the invitation to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to address the grouping of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) which was turned down by the host UAE, resulting in Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi boycotting the plenary. "Terrorism and extremism bear different names and labels. It uses diverse causes. But in each case, it is driven by distortion of religion, and a misguided belief in its power to succeed. The fight against terrorism is not a confrontation against any religion," Swaraj, who is the first Indian minister to address the meeting of the 57 Islamic countries, said. Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, a senior minister in Indira Gandhi's ...
Terrorism destroying lives, destabilising regions: Swaraj tells OIC
Terrorism is destroying lives, destabilising regions and putting the world at great peril, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting on Friday and asserted the war against the menace was not against any religion. Attending the meeting in the shadow of heightened tension between India and Pakistan following the killing of 40 CRPF personnel in Kashmir's Pulwama district by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, Swaraj, who is the first Indian minister to address the meeting of the 57 Islamic countries, said "very few" Muslims in India have fallen prey to the poisonous propaganda of radical and extremist ideologies. "Terrorism and extremism bear different names and labels. It uses diverse causes. But in each case, it is driven by distortion of religion, and a misguided belief in its power to succeed," she said. During her nearly 17-minute speech, she did not mention Pakistan. "I carry the greetings of my Prime Minister Narendra ...
Countries supporting terrorists must be told to stop it, says Sushma
Addressing a conference of 57-nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (IOC) here as the 'Guest of Honour' here, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said those indulging in terrorism are resorting to "distortion of religion" and giving different names to the menace to justify it.Swaraj addressed the plenary session of the conference which was boycotted by Pakistan as a protest against invitation to India for the first time in the grouping's 50-year-old history.In her speech, she said "senseless terrorist violence" was destroying lives, destabilising regions and putting the world at great peril as its "lethality" was increasing and "toll rising".Swaraj said terrorism and extremism was given "different names" to justify such acts and involved "distortion of religion"."The fight against terrorism is not a confrontation against any religion and can't be against any religion. Just as Islam means peace, none of the 99 names of Allah means violence. Similarly, every religion stands for
Poonch: Pakistan violates ceasefire second time in a day
Pakistan violated ceasefire for the second time on Thursday and resorted to unprovoked firing and heavy shelling of mortars along the Line of Control (LoC) in Krishna Ghati sector.Earlier in the morning, the Pakistani Rangers violated the ceasefire in the same area. The gun-battle which commenced at 6 in the morning concluded after an hour.On Wednesday, Pakistani Rangers violated ceasefire in Mendhar and Krishna Ghati sectors in the Rajouri district, to which the Indian Army gave a befitting reply.Yesterday, another incident of ceasefire violation was reported in Kamalkot area of Uri sector in Baramulla district.
Pakistan violates ceasfire along LoC in Krishna Ghati sector
Pakistan on Thursday violated ceasefire by resorting to unprovoked firing and heavy shelling of mortars in Krishna Ghati along the Line of Control in Poonch this morning.Indian Army retaliated strongly and effectively. The gun-battle which commenced at 6 in the morning concluded after an hour.On Wednesday, Pakistani Rangers violated ceasefire in Mendhar and Krishna Ghati sectors in the Rajouri district, to which the Indian Army gave a befitting reply.Yesterday, another incident of ceasefire violation was also reported in Kamalkot area of Uri sector in Baramulla district.
Nayantara Sahgal unveils new novel, slams Modi (Lead, correcting para 3)
Veteran author Nayantara Sahgal unveiled her new novel "The Fate Of Butterflies" at a function attended by bibliophiles and several known faces from the literary and political world, here on Wednesday.