Civic

NYC Hails Muslim 'Good Samaritan'

December 18, 2007

Author: Alastair Lawson

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7149916.stm

A Muslim Bangladeshi student is to be honoured by the mayor of New York on Wednesday for helping three Jewish people who were being beaten up.

Hassan Askari has been described as a "latter-day Good Samaritan" for coming to the aid of the three, who were attacked earlier this month.

Green Bay Mayor: No More Holiday Displays for Time Being

December 17, 2007

Author: Mike Hoeft

Source: Green Bay Press Gazette

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071217/GPG0101/71217010/1206/GPGnews

Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt has declared a moratorium on any more religious displays atop a City Hall overhang until the City Council can take up the issue at Tuesday’s meeting.

With a pagan Wiccan wreath knocked off the roof by a...

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Hindu Prayer to Open New Mexico Senate

December 16, 2007

Author: Rajan Zed

Source: mediaforfreedom.com

http://www.mediaforfreedom.com/ReadArticle.asp?ArticleID=7743

New Mexico State Senate of USA will have its first Hindu prayer containing Sanskrit mantras on January 28.

Rajan Zed, a prominent Hindu chaplain, will read the historic opening prayer from ancient Hindu scriptures before New Mexico Senate in Santa Fe on this day. After first delivering in Sanskrit, he will then read the...

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Dialogue Effort is Largest of its Kind

December 16, 2007

Author: Sandi Dolbee

Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20071216-9999-1m16faith.html

AN DIEGO – In what is being described as the first such effort of its kind, two major Jewish and Muslim groups will launch “serious education programs” in the United States and Canada aimed at bridging a divide formed from centuries of animosity over land, politics and religion.
...

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Monks Rap, Strut in Effort to Re-Energize Buddhism

December 16, 2007

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Japan Times

Wire Service: AP

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20071216a5.html

Japanese monks and nuns held a fashion show — replete with rap music and a catwalk — at a major temple in Tokyo on Saturday to promote Buddhism.

In the Tokyo Bouz (monk) Collection held at Tsukiji Honganji, nearly 40 monks and nuns from eight major Buddhist sects joined in...

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Mass Lamb Slaughter is Halted

December 15, 2007

Author: Mandy Locke

Source: News-Observer

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/831567.html

SMITHFIELD - At the state's urging, a Johnston County judge on Friday told a farmer he couldn't open his farm next week to Muslim families planning to slaughter lambs as part of an annual religious celebration.

The order means that about 250 Muslim families in Wake County will have to make other arrangements for slaughtering lambs they bought in...

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For Burmese People, a Friend in High Places

December 13, 2007

Author: Simon Montlake

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1213/p06s02-woap.html

Nearly two decades of treating Burmese migrants on the Thai border has taught Cynthia Maung, herself a political refugee from military-ruled Burma (Myanmar), to expect the unexpected. Every day brings more migrants to her private clinic – many of whom can't afford treatment.

On Monday, the unexpected came from an entirely...

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Nativity Back at Ohio Parks

December 13, 2007

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

Wire Service: AP

http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/2988492

COLUMBUS -- Under an order from Gov. Ted Strickland, Nativity scenes removed from two state parks have been put back up.

The Christmas manger displays in Shawnee State Park in Scioto County and Malabar Farm in Richland County had been taken down after a complaint from a Shawnee visitor. He argued that large figures representing the Hindu and...

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HAF Urges Immediate Release of HINDRAF Leaders Arrested under Internal Security Act

December 13, 2007

Author: Press Release

Source: Hindu American Foudnation

http://www.hinduamericanfoundation.org/media_press_release_malaysia_arrests.htm

Several human rights activists at the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) raised alarm today over what they described as the continued heavy-handed and authoritarian actions of the Malaysian government in dealing with the leaders of the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF).

According...

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Sikh Selected as Georgia's Top 40 - The 'Best and the Brightest Leaders in America'

December 12, 2007

Author: Tania Kaur

Source: The Panthic Weekly

http://www.panthic.org/news/123/ARTICLE/3734/2007-12-12.html

Queens, New York, USA – Navneet Singh Narula, a volunteer and Director of United Sikhs settled in Atlanta USA, is no stranger to winning top honors and awards. In the rarefied air of Fortune 100 global business, where conformity is the norm, Narula has set himself apart as a top corporate executive for one of the world’s...

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Peer Criticises Muslim 'Hotheads'

December 11, 2007

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7138641.stm

Muslim peer Baroness Warsi has hit out at Muslim "hardliners and hotheads" who use Islam to argue against voting and equal rights for women.

The Conservative shadow minister for community cohesion said it was crucial to distinguish between social demands and genuine religious requirements.

She urged Muslims not to allow such...

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9th Circuit Finds Parts of Patriot Act Unconstitutional

December 11, 2007

Source: The Associated Press

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=19428

LOS ANGELES — A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that some portions of the U.S. Patriot Act dealing with foreign terrorist organizations are unconstitutional because the language is too vague to be understood by a person of average intelligence.

The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco affirms a 2005 decision by U.S. District Judge Audrey...

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