Page 59 - Religion Belief
English gives me sufficient distance to write: 'Life of Pi' author
Spanish-born Canadian author Yann Martel, best known for the Man Booker Prize-winning novel "Life of Pi" which was also adapted on screen to critical acclaim, on Sunday said that although he feels in French, he is able to think more accurately in English.
I don't respect convention in music, religion: Ustad Amjad Ali Khan
Talking about the unifying power of music, Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan on Sunday said that he doesn't respect convention in music or in religion and lamented the state of the 21st century world, driven by religious strife.
Kerala nun rape case: Save Our Sisters writes letter to CM
Save Our Sisters (SOS), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has written a letter to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan seeking government intervention to protect the nuns who led the agitation against Bishop Franco Mulakkal."The rape survivor and the other five nuns who supported her in the case against Bishop Franco Mulakkal are facing an imminent threat of being separated and sent away from Kerala by the Missionaries of Jesus," the SOS letter to Vijayan read.SOS urged the government to ensure that the lives of the nuns are not endangered by enforcing transfer order. "We call upon the government to initiate immediate action to forestall the move to remove them from their present convent where the government is giving protection, till the trial is completed," the NGO said.Eminent writers and social activists have also extended their support to the petition.On January 19, Sister Anupama along with three other nuns who had pledged support for the nun allegedly raped by Bishop ...
Cubans inaugurate first new Catholic church in decades
The first new Roman Catholic church to be completed in Cuba since the country's 1959 socialist revolution was inaugurated with the aid of a Florida congregation Saturday, in a ceremony that observers called a hopeful sign amid international tensions. The Parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the western town of Sandino is one of three Catholic churches authorised by Cuba as part of a warming between the Vatican and the island's Communist government. It is the first to be finished, thanks in large part to financial aid from the members of St Lawrence Church in Tampa, Florida. Tensions between Cuba and the US have risen in recent weeks as the Trump administration has threatened new sanctions on Cuba and its ally Venezuela. "This is a bridge between Tampa and Cuba," said Reverend Ramon Hernandez, a Cuban-born priest who lives in Tampa and returned for the ceremony. The Cuban state and Catholic church clashed in the first decades after the revolution, when many priests worked against the
Pope Francis says Church hasn't known 'how to listen'
Pope Francis acknowledged Saturday that the Catholic Church was "wounded by sin" in a message addressed to priests and seminarians reeling from sexual abuse scandals and coverups. In a mass that he officiated at the centuries-old Cathedral of Santa Maria La Antigua in Panama City, Francis warned of the "weariness of hope to see a Church wounded by sin that often has not heard so many screams." It was the Argentine pontiff's first reference to the sex abuse scandals rocking the Church since he arrived in Panama on Wednesday for a global gathering of young Catholics. It comes as he prepares to meet senior bishops from around the world in Rome next month to deal with widespread clergy sex abuse of children and young people. His spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said next month's meeting would be a unique chance to provide bishops with "concrete measures" to tackle the "terrible plague." After the mass in the basilica -- home of the first diocese on the American mainland -- the pope and the ...
Telganana CM, deputy CM, leaders attend At Home ceremony
: Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister K E Krishna Murthy and other leaders attended the customary 'At Home' hosted by Governor of the two states E S L Narasimhan at the Raj Bhavan here Saturday on the occasion of Republic Day. Congress president in Telangana N Uttam Kumar Reddy, his BJP counterpart K Laxman and TDP counterpart L Ramana were present on the occasion. The working president of ruling TRS in Telangana K T Rama Rao, actor-turned-politician and Jana Sena Party founder Pawan Kalyan also attended the event. BJP MP and former Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya and former Governor of Tamil Nadu K Rosaiah were also present.
500-mtr area around Somnath, Ambaji temples declared 'veg zones'
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Friday declared as "vegetarian zones" a 500-metre area surrounding the famous pilgrimage sites of Somnath temple in Saurashtra and Ambaji temple in north Gujarat. The announcement was made by Rupani at a gathering in Palanpur in Banaskantha district, around 145 km from here. The move means that non-vegetarian food, such as meat and chicken, cannot be sold near the premises of these two temples. While the Somnath temple is in Gir-Somnath district, the Ambaji temple is in Banaskantha district. "I hereby declare a 500-metre area surrounding the pilgrimage places -- Somnath and Ambaji -- as vegetarian zones. From now on, there will be a total ban on selling non-vegetarian food in these areas," Rupani told the gathering. Several religious outfits and the residents of these pilgrimage centres had been demanding such a measure since long. Both the temples are top religious sites for Hindus, attracting pilgrims from all over the country as well as
Amarinder vows to ensure fair probe in 2015 desecration case
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Friday vowed to ensure "a free and fair" probe into the 2015 incidents of desecration of Sikh religious texts and firings on protesters in Faridkot. "The SIT set up to probe the matter would be given a free hand to take its investigation to the logical conclusion as expeditiously as possible," he said here. Nobody found responsible would be spared, he said. Singh also hailed the Punjab and Haryana High Court verdict in the 2015 Bargari case. The verdict, he said, is "a victory for the families of innocent victims of the brutal killings which was deliberately not investigated during the previous SAD-BJP regime". The court Friday dismissed pleas by policemen, booked in the firing case, and refused to order a CBI probe into the desecration incidents, while reposing faith in the SIT probe into the desecration and firing cases. The court has directed the SIT to complete its probe and present the chargesheet, which would be done, said the chief ...
SC notice to Centre, Tripura on PIL challenging amendment in passport rules
The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to Centre and Tripura government on a PIL challenging the constitutional validity of the Passport (Entry into India) Amendment Rules, 2015, The Foreigners (Amendment) Order, 2015 that regularises the entry and stay of six communities into India who claim to be victims of religious persecution in their countries. The PIL has been filed by Tripura People's Front headed by Patal Kanya Jamatia.The Passport (Entry into India) Amendment Rules, 2015 and The Foreigners (Amendment) Order, 2015 grant exemption to "persons belonging to minority communities in Bangladesh and Pakistan, namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who were compelled to seek shelter in India due to religious persecution or fear of religious persecution and entered into India on or before December 31, 2014 ….from the application provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946." "The impugned provision would go to clearly show that the people of Tripura have been ..
Kashmiri Pandits demand commemorative stamp on saint Roopa Bhawani
An organisation of Kashmiri Pandits has demanded issuance of commemorative stamp on saint Mata Roopa Bhawani ahead of her 400th birth anniversary celebrations in 2021. "We demand issuance of commemorative stamp on the life of Mata Roopa Bhawani. We urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Governor Satya Pal Malik to facilitate release of the stamp," General Secretary of Shri Alakh Sahiba Trust (SAST) Rishi J K Raina said here. The President of SAST, Chander Mohna Dhar, told reporters here, "We are celebrating 400 years of birth of Mata Roopa Bhawani across the country and outside in 2021. Prakash utsav will be started ahead of that." The 'Prakash Utsav' and birth celebrations will have a chain of programmes, including religious prayers, discourses and seminars, he said. Mata Roopa Bhawani was born in 1621 in Srinagar city. She meditated at six place across Kashmir valley and wrote 1,114 verses in praise of Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu, on philosophy of Nirvana and on self-realisation. Six .
Bihar Governor Lalji Tandon mourns death of Krishna Sobti
Bihar Governor Lalji Tandon on Friday mourned the death of renowned Hindi writer Krishna Sobti, who breathed her last at a Delhi hospital early this morning. In his condolence message, Tandon said the death of Sobti whose many laurels include Jnanpith and Sahitya Akademi awards has caused an irreparable loss to the world of Hindi literature. In her works like Mitro Marjani, Daar Se Bichhuri and Zindaginama, Sobti successfully presented the challenges faced by Indian women in their day-to-day lives. Her absence will definitely leave behind a void. May her soul rest in peace and her family members as well as numerous admirers find the strength to cope with the loss, Tandon added.
Left used Sabarimala row to cut Congress votes: Tharoor
The Sabarimala controversy was fanned by the Left to cut the Congress pparty's Hindu votes so that they can reap the political benefits, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said on Thursday.
No cultural, religious repression of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang: Pak diplomat
A senior Pakistani diplomat on Thursday put up a staunch defence of the controversial education camps in China's volatile Xinjiang province where thousands of Uyghur Muslims have been reportedly detained, saying there is no forced labour or cultural and religious repression in the region. China recently took diplomats from 12 countries with large Muslim populations, including India and Pakistan, to its Xinjiang province where tens of thousands of members of the minority Uyghur Muslims have been interned in education camps. "During this visit, I did not find any instance of forced labour or cultural and religious repression," Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, the Charge d'affaires, Pakistan's Embassy in China, told the state-run Global Times on Thursday. "The imams we met at the mosques and the students and teachers at the Xinjiang Islamic Institute told us that they enjoy freedom in practicing Islam and that the Chinese government extends support for maintenance of mosques all over Xinjiang," said
Nepal official launches mission to eradicate menstruation huts
A Nepal official has launched a mission to end an ancient tradition which forces menstruating women to stay in rudimentary shelters, following an incident this month when a woman and her two children were found dead in such a hut in Bajura district.
Jakarta's ex-Governor released after jail term for blasphemy
The former Governor of the Indonesian capital was released from prison on Thursday after serving his two-year sentence for insulting Islam.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar to tour Kerala in Feb
Spiritual leader and founder of the Art of Living, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar would be arriving in Kerala on a three-day visit next month. Gurudev would be in the state from February 19 to 21, an Art of Living (AOL) Foundation statement said Thursday. The spiritual leader would deliver keynote address at the World Congress of the International Advertising Association (IAA) in Kochi on February 20. The same evening, he would lead a 'Maha Satsang', spiritual gathering, at the Cantonment Maidan in Kollam with the theme "upholding spirituality and traditional values". Over one lakh people are expected to participate in this event where Gurudev would inaugurate the Sri Sri Academy, it said adding that this would be the first Maha Satsang in his presence in the state after a gap of five years.
Manna from heaven? Shares tied to Japan's Nagasaki get Pope visit boost
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese shares linked to the city of Nagasaki got an unlikely boost on Thursday after Pope Francis unveiled a plan to visit Japan, with media reporting Nagasaki, for centuries a centre of Christianity in Japan, would be on his itinerary.
Jakarta ex-governor freed from prison after blasphemy sentence
Jakarta's former governor has been released from prison, his assistant said Thursday, nearly two years after his blasphemy conviction fanned fears over religious intolerance in the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama -- the Indonesian capital's first non-Muslim governor in half a century and its first ethnic Chinese leader -- left Mako Brimob prison in Depok, outside Jakarta, at around 7:30 am local time, Ima Mahdiah told AFP. Supporters of the former governor, who is popularly known as Ahok, gathered outside the prison, chanting and cheering his new-found freedom. The release ends one of the most tumultuous chapters in Indonesian politics in recent memory. Purnama had been a popular politician who won praise for trying to clean up the traffic-clogged megacity and clamp down on corruption before his imprisonment. But his downfall came quickly after comments he made on the campaign trail during a re-election bid saw him accused of insulting Islam. The filmed .
Nationalism is not about raising slogans, but bringing change
Veteran screenwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar Wednesday said nationalism or patriotism was not about raising "slogans" or hating all those who "disagree", but was a way of life and bringing about a change in the society. He was speaking at 'Festival of Thinkers' organised by Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies here. "Today, we have left many things behind like social commitment, real patriotism...Today, we hear these words - nationalism, patriotism...Today, India is divided between nationalists and anti-nationalists and if you disagree with someone on something, you are an anti-national," Akhtar said during an interaction at the event. Patriotism or nationalism have been misconstrued with raising slogans and hating all those who disagree with you, he said. "No, nationalism or patriotism is not about raising slogans or hating someone who disagrees, but nationalism and patriotism is about a way of life. It is about looking at the issues in the society, bringing a ..
Nun issued second notice by her congregation
: A nun, who published poems, bought a car and took part in a protest against the former bishop of Jalandhar diocese in connection with a rape case, has been issued a second notice by her congregation to give an explanation in writing for allegedly violating its discipline. The second notice was issued by the Franciscan Clarist Congregation as she did not turn up before her congregation head after being summoned to give the explanation. Sister Lucy Kalappura, who took part in a protest against the former Bishop of the Jalandhar diocese in connection with a rape case, was earlier issued a notice by the Aluva-based Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC), for leading a life "against principles of religious life". Sister Kalappura said she would respond in writing to the congregation head to the charges levelled against her. She alleged that some 14 charges have been levelled against her, many of which were a "deliberate attempt to paint me in a bad light." "I am deeply hurt ..