Author: Staff Writer

Source: DAWN.com

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/09-govt-announces-relief-package-for-displaced-sikhs-szh--02

Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti has reiterated that the government will ensure the safety of minorities in the country, APP reports.

‘...

Author: Naveen S Garewal

Source: Tribune News Service

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090505/main8.htm

This is a place where politicians need to come and take a few lessons in secularism. After militancy forced Hindus to migrate from the Kashmir valley in the 1990s, Muslims have been acting as “priests” and “caretakers” of the ancient Mamalaka Temple on the outskirts of Pahalgam.

Not only has this 900-year-old...

Author: Jimmie Collins

Source: The Austin American-Statesman

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/05/04/0504islam101.html

Jacquelyn Harper became a Muslim at the end of January. The 25-year-old said she has never before felt as close a bond with God.

"I started reading books (about Islam), and the books I was reading started to really make sense to me," said Harper, who converted from a...

Author: Ansel Oliver and Elizabeth Lechleitner

Source: Adventist News Network

http://news.adventist.org/2009/05/understanding-islam.html

Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders say two conferences exploring areas of common understanding between Adventists and Muslims will bolster the church's interfaith outreach.

Earlier this month, dozens of international church officials met in Grenada, Spain, to help erode misperceptions of Islam...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Organiser

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=288&page=17

The second Australian Hindu Conference with the theme ‘Sustaining Australia through strengthening bonds amongst communities’ was organised by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Australia. The conference was inaugurated by world renowned spiritual leader Swami Dayananda Saraswati by lighting...

Author: Melissa Pamer

Source: Dailybreeze.com

http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_12287014

Ester Hacken has come to consider herself part of Amir Fazalbhoy's family during the past decade, which saw the blossoming of their friendship.

Despite many occasions on which they've broken bread and shared holidays, there always remained one thorny issue dividing them: religion.

On Sunday, Hacken, an observant Jew, and Fazalbhoy, a practicing...

Author: Jesse Leavenworth

Source: The Hartford Courant

http://www.courant.com/community/news/ec/hc-many-faiths-0502.artmay02,0,2096209.story

Soon after Russian Jews settled here a century ago, a congressional panel on immigration set out to study the newcomers' progress and assimilation with the mostly Yankee population.

The Jewish farmers of Ellington were among the immigrant communities studied throughout...

Author: Dana Clark Felty

Source: The Buddhist Channel/Savannah Now

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=61,8095,0,0,1,0

Six-year-old Cayden Somers was rolling on the floor, jumping across the room and bouncing off the walls on Sunday as his Sunday school teacher prepared her lesson in the next room.

The energy soon transferred to 5-year-old Savana Kaufman and 6-year-old Dorothy Neal who jumped from side to side giggling...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Thaindian News

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/politics/bangladesh-welcomes-us-recognition-of-its-religious-tolerance_100187256.html

The Bangladesh government has welcomed a US Congressional panel’s move to drop it from a list of countries deemed to violate the religious freedom of minorities.

The decision is a vindication of the...

Author: Emily Wax

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/30/AR2009043004083.html

At a trendy pub in this cosmopolitan IT capital, Hemangini Gupta, 28, and some of her girlfriends were recently relaxing with cocktails after work. A group of Hindu men later followed them outside, verbally accosting them for drinking in a public bar and for wearing jeans.

"These...

Author: Pamela Duque

Source: The Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/northeast/story/1026811.html

With final exams around the corner, Sundays mean study time for some high school students. But for Shira Papir and nine friends, last Sunday was a day for helping others and spending time with fellow teens from different religious backgrounds.

''Interfaith dialogue has always been something I've been...

Author: Lydia Saad

Source: Gallup

http://www.gallup.com/poll/118120/Obama-Approval-High-Among-Muslims-Jews-Catholics.aspx

Gallup Poll Daily tracking during President Obama's first 100 days in office finds broad support for him among Americans affiliated with most major U.S. religions. U.S. Muslims and Jews give Obama his highest job approval ratings, at 85% and 79%, respectively. He also receives solid majority...

Author: William C. Mann

Source: The Hartford Courant

http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld/hc-religious-freedom-0501.artmay01,0,6672314.story

A congressionally backed panel said today that religious freedoms were deteriorating in Russia, Turkey and four other nations that were added to a watch list of countries where people's rights to worship as they please or not to worship at all are at risk.

The...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Balkan Investigative Reporting Network

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/main/news/18555/

The two largest religious communities in Macedonia are so powerful they could breach the state’s constitutional secularism, a UN official visiting Skopje said on Wednesday.

The Macedonian Orthodox Church, MPC, and the Islamic community have a substantial influence over Macedonian politics, the special reporter on freedom...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Thaindian News

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/politics/laws-discriminatory-to-minorities-to-be-repealed-bangladesh_100186458.html

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said that her government will repeal all laws and rules discriminatory to minority communities, including indigenous people.

“Our government believes in freedom...