Free Republic

BHUBNESHWAR, India — Indian authorities arrested four people and suspended a police officer Friday following a medical report indicating a Catholic nun was likely raped in an attack by a Hindu mob during religious clashes, a state government spokesman said.

Father Ranjit Tigga has spent most of his life as a Jesuit missionary in rural India working with poor tribal villagers near the state of Orissa, southeast of Calcutta near the Bay of Bengal. Father Francis Ezhakunnel, another Jesuit missionary, was the director of a leprosy center in the state of Jharkhand, just north of Orissa. And Father Nicolas Santos teaches college in western India. All three Indian priests are now at Marquette University studying for advanced degrees in business administration and communications, so they can return to India and aid in the advancement of those they serve. Although immersed...

According to witnesses, Saturday afternoon Fr. Thomas celebrated mass in Burgida, before setting out for another village in the district where he was to have celebrated Sunday mass. The last people to have seen him alive were religious sisters from Lingapetta convent, where the priest had stopped for supper before continuing his journey. “Fr. Thomas is a martyr – said Msgr. Marampudi, archbishop of Hyderabad, on hearing of the brutal murder. The Indian Church is shocked and deeply saddened by this barbarous killing, the result of a growing climate of intolerance and violence against Christians in this country”. The prelate...

Lucia Otgongerel (Photo credit: UCANews) Ulan Bator, Aug 20, 2008 / 09:03 pm (CNA).- Lucia Otgongerel was born in Mongolia 30 years ago without hands or legs.  She lived in a deep depression until 2002 when she converted to Catholicism and, as she explains, discovered “true joy.”  Today she works in the capital city of Mongolia, Ulan Bator, as a teacher for seven children with special needs.Now Lucia claims, “I could not live without my faith.”  She overcomes the challenges of her physical condition though an intense life of prayer: including the daily Rosary, meditations and study of the...

KOCHI: An Indianised version of the Bible with references to the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita and drawings of a turbaned Joseph and a sari-clad Mother Mary with baby Jesus in her arms is making waves in Kerala. This is an unprecedented venture as the Indian scriptures have been used to interpret biblical passages for the first time, Catholic Church spokesman Paul Thelekat says. There are 24 line drawings, including those of mosques, temples and churches with slippers outside, by the late Christopher Coelho. Mumbai-based publishing house St Pauls has come out with the new Indian Bible, which also has...

In 1988, 16-year-old Piyush Jindal totaled his father's new car a few weeks before graduating from Baton Rouge High School. Piyush -- who then and now prefers the nickname "Bobby" he adopted from "The Brady Brunch" sitcom -- had to assess more than fender damage with his parents. "Which God do you have to thank for your safety?" Mr. Jindal, now governor of Louisiana, remembers his mother, Raj, a practicing Hindu, inquiring after he escaped from the wreck. For the child of Punjabi immigrants who had announced his Christian beliefs the previous summer, the question was difficult. Twenty years later,...

NEW DELHI: With Democrat senator Barack Obama busy in the run-up to the US presidential polls, a group of well-wishers in the capital have decided to send him a symbol of his lucky charm, Lord Hanuman, to help him emerge victorious. Obama's representative Carolyn Sauvage-Mar on Tuesday received a gold-plated two-feet-high idol which she will pass it on to the Obama after it is sanctified. The idol is being presented to Obama as he is reported to be a Lord Hanuman devotee and carries with him a locket of the monkey god along with other good luck charms. An hour-long...

I was about to ask someone on another thread which translation she uses and I thought maybe it might be better as an individual thread. I don't think this will become contentious, but who knows? So, the question: Which translation do you use for your personal Bible? If the answer is different: Which do you prefer? Why not use it as your personal Bible?

Two young, LDS missionaries, wearing their white shirts and ties, left their apartment and went out into the busy streets of Bangkok, Thailand, in July 1972. As they tracted, they found an unusual picture on the front page of the newspapers: another missionary they knew sitting on top of a large statue of Buddha. That evening, the elders received a phone call. They were to stay inside their apartments and not proselyte. A photo that seemed fun at the time turned out to have some drastic consequences. For six weeks Elder Mark Tippets and his companion read, all they could...

The kirpan, or ceremonial dagger, is worn by many devout Sikhs Sikh representatives will not attend an inter-faith meeting with Pope Benedict XVI when he visits the US next month.They say this is because the Pope's guards in the US will not allow them to wear their "kirpan" ceremonial daggers. Jewish, Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist representatives are meeting the Pope in Washington. The kirpan must be worn by all baptised Sikhs (Khalsa), after an order issued by the faith's leader Guru Gobind Singh, in 1699. Sikhs are being replaced by representatives from the Jain religion at the ceremony. The...

A prominent Hindu leader met a senior leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in Salt Lake City (Utah) yesterday and discussed similarities in both the religions. Rajan Zed, prominent leader of Hindus and Indo-Americans, and Neil L. Anderson, member of the Presidency of the Seventy of LDS Church, met in LDS headquarters in Salt Lake City, and talked about various issues concerning their religions. Similarities examined were "law of the harvest" of LDS and karma doctrine of Hinduism; life does not begin with birth nor end with death; Brahman is unlimited and pervasive, so is...

The Utah State Senate will begin differently today. As in other states, the Utah's Senate meeting begins with a prayer or religious rite. However, today will mark the first time a Hindu prayer has opened the Utah Senate meeting. Rajan Zed, a Hindu chaplain, will read a prayer from the "Rig-Veda," an ancient book of Hindu scripture that dates back more than 3,000 years. Zed will first read the prayer in Sanscrit, a language considered sacred by Hindus, and then an English translation. After the prayer, Zed will meet with Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and with Elder Quentin L. Cook...

How far can Catholics go in “interreligious learning”? Jesuit Father Francis X. Clooney hinted at the answer to this question in a Jan. 15 posting on the internet site of America magazine, a Jesuit national weekly. Fr. Clooney related his trip, during the second week of January, to the Culver City-based Jesuit novitiate, where he gave a three-day seminar “on interreligious dialogue and related issues to the first year novices of the California and Oregon Provinces.”  The seminar featured, in part, the viewing of documentaries. One of the films presented was Swamiji, about the life of a French Benedictine,...

New Delhi - India's eastern state of Orissa has lodged a protest with the US government seeking action against a California-based website for hurting religious sentiments of people by selling undergarments with images of Hindu gods, a newspaper reported Friday. Hindu priests and religious groups had slammed the website, cafepress.com, for selling undergarments embellished with faces of several gods and goddesses, including the presiding deities of Jagannath temple, considered among the most sacred Hindu temples in India. Besides writing to the US embassy in New Delhi, the state authorities also wrote to the federal Home Minister Shivraj Patil urging him...

GREENVILLE, S.C. --Pastor Frank Page says he has learned to be wary of the media during his tenure as head of the Southern Baptist Convention. But, he said, he is glad he opened the doors of his church to documentary filmmakers looking to show the personal faith of some of the world's spiritual leaders. "Because of who I am, I talked about Jesus Christ every other word, every other phrase, because I knew if they cut out Christ, they're going to have to cut out everything I say," Page said. "If they really want to know, as evangelical believers, who...

PATNA , India (UPI) -- A judge in India has put out a call for two Hindu gods to "appear before the court personally" to help find an answer to a property dispute. Judge Sunil Kumar Singh has taken out advertisements in newspapers ordering the gods Ram and Hanuman to testify before the court, the BBC reported Friday. The 20-year-old dispute revolves around 1.4 acres of land that host two temples, one dedicated to each of the two gods referred to by Singh. Temple priest Manmohan Pathak claims to own the land that houses the holy buildings, but locals claim...

Vedic Recitations in a Christian Church on Thanksgiving http://newsblaze.com/story/20071101085222tsop.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/Top-Stories.html http://tinyurl.com/2kmxfe Nov 1, 2007 Judyth Piazza, News Blaze Recitations from ancient Sanskrit scriptures will reverberate in a Christian church in Nevada on the occasion of coming Thanksgiving eve service. Rajan Zed, the prominent Hindu chaplain, will read from Rig-Veda (oldest existing scripture of the world dated from around 1,500 BCE), Upanishads (Hindu scriptures containing mystical teachings), and Bhagavad-Gita (famous philosophical and spiritual poem) in Trinity Episcopal Church in Reno (Nevada) during Twenty-second Annual Thanksgiving Service of Northwestern Nevada to be held on November 21 evening. Despite conflicts around the world, various...

Not too long ago, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel featured a story on the completed renovation of All Saints church in Milwaukee. Stories of church renovation are nothing new to Milwaukee Catholics. The city offered a high-profile case several years back with the controversial renovation of Saint John’s Cathedral downtown. The renovation at All Saints opens the door once again to a much-needed dialogue regarding the interplay of architecture, design and theology in Catholic churches. I am one of many Catholics who believe that “renovation” is more often than not a euphemism for the evisceration of tradition. Unfortunately, over the past...

A traditional Chinese dinner of rice, meat, seafood, vegetables and a small pig was laid out on the ground at Laurel Grove Cemetery. Nearby, gray smoke curled out of a trash can, in which members of the New York-based Fukien American Association burned fake money, part of a Chinese burial ritual meant to provide for the dead in the afterlife. The event -- which started on the sidewalks of New York's Chinatown amid pounding drums and a colorful, traditional dragon dance -- consecrated the cemetery's new Chinese American Memorial Gardens section, which will be the future final resting place for...

As of September 1, China is tightening control over Tibetan Buddhism with a new law requiring government permission for the reincarnation of lamas. Tibetan activists say this is another attempt by communist Chinese leaders to undermine Tibetan culture and even absurdly to control the religious afterlife. VOA's Heda Bayron has more on the story from our Asia News Center in Hong Kong. The new law bans Tibetan lamas, or monks, from reincarnating without Chinese government approval. China, which has ruled Tibet for more than half a century, says anyone outside China cannot influence the reincarnation process and only monasteries in...

A Catholic school run by the Franciscan Sisters of Our Lady of Graces in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand (or Uttaranchal), was devastated by a gang of radical Hindu militants, members of the extremist organisation Sangh Parivar. The civil authorities and human rights groups, the local Catholic Church and other Christians have said they are deeply shocked at this totally unprovoked attack which sowed panic among the pupils and teachers and left the school building completely devastated. The school was in the village of Vikas Nagar near the town of Dehra Dun. The local Church is outraged and has...

Every Sunday, Jun Kwon drives his mother to a Polish-Catholic neighborhood in Garfield, to a modest, red brick house. A Korean flag flutters outside of this house turned church turned Buddhist meditation center. Taking his mom to Sunday morning services at the Santisukha Meditation Center boosts Kwon's good karma. "She's pretty old," he explains. She's 43. Korean-American Buddhists, who in the United States represent just 5 percent of their ethnic community, have a double minority status, according to Sharon A. Suh, professor of theology and religious studies at Seattle University, and author of "Being Buddhist in a Christian World: Gender...

When 16th century European priests arrived in southern India to introduce Christianity, they were told that a more famed Christian missionary had been there first. In the districts of Travancore and Cochin, there was already a community of Indian Christians with a tradition of loose communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The man who first converted them, the Indians said, was none other than St. Thomas the Apostle (the "Doubting Thomas"), who reputedly arrived in India aboard a Roman trading vessel in 52 A.D. Whether St. Thomas actually preached under the palm trees of Travancore and Cochin is a point...

The Last Mass of Father Ragheed, a Martyr of the Chaldean Church They killed him in Mosul, together with three of his subdeacons. In a tormented Iraq, he was a man and a Christian of limpid and courageous faith. Here is a portrait of him, written by someone who knew him well by Sandro MagisterROMA, June 5, 2007 – They killed him on the Sunday after Pentecost, after he had celebrated Mass in his parish church, dedicated to the Holy Spirit, in Mosul. They killed Father Ragheed Ganni, a Chaldean Catholic priest, together with three subdeacons who were with him...

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — A priest professor at a New Jersey Catholic university is also a “Zen master.” Father Kevin Hunt, a monk in Spencer, Mass., is a Buddhist “sensei.” A chapel on a Catholic campus in California holds a weekly “Mindfulness and Zen Meditation” session. Anthony Clark, an assistant professor of Chinese history at the University of Alabama and a noted Catholic expert on Buddhism, cites more examples: a Benedictine convent that sells the Dalai Lama’s books and practices Chan Buddhist meditation; a Dominican priory with a Zen-style prayer room. In March, Bishop Frank Dewane said enough is enough....

Pentecost Sunday May 27, 2007 Dear Friends and Benefactors, Christ Jesus be praised! This letter is urgent. We find ourselves fighting for our survival. In a moment, I will outline the steps that have brought us to this point, but straight away, I want to give you an overview of what is happening now and why we need your help. Due to a coordinated attack against our apostolate locally, and the effects of a national smear campaign, our already shaky finances have turned into a bleak fiscal situation. As I write, we are $50,000 in debt. Moreover, we are facing...

Bishop's yoga ban is a stretch, parishioners say, Complaints end classes at south Fort Myers parish

On the occasion of Vesak, Cardianl Poupard in a letter addressed to Buddhists in all Asian countries mentioned below tells them that “We, Catholics and Buddhists, enjoy a good relationship and our contacts, collaboration and implementation of diverse programmes have helped to deepen our understanding of each other. Dialogue is the surepath to fruitful inter religious relations. It deepens respect and nurtures the desire to live in harmony with others. The Second Vatican Council teaches that the entire human race shares a common origin and a common destiny: God, our Creator and the goal of our earthly pilgrimage”. There is...

Fr. Maximilian N. Ranatunga tells AsiaNews the story of his conversion from Buddhism: from his initial condemnation of Christianity, through the newfound “wonder” of praying to the Virgin, to his search for God and the priestly vocation to “place himself at the service of the sick”. Rome (AsiaNews) – He was to have become a Buddhist monk, but today he is Sri Lanka’s first Camillian priest.  Father Maximilian N. Ranatunga, 45 years old, synthesizes his life: “ I was no stranger to sufferance, but then at a certain point, without my knowing why or how I found the joy and...

SOC SON, Vietnam (AFP) - A prominent Vietnamese Zen master living in exile on Friday took his message of post-war reconciliation to thousands of Buddhist faithful at a hillside pagoda near Hanoi. Thich Nhat Hanh, an 81-year-old monk, led prayers for the millions of war dead from both sides of the conflict, during his second return visit since he was exiled four decades ago by the then US-backed Saigon regime. "Our country and nation suffered so much in the years of fighting for independence and freedom, and you were the ones who suffered the most," Hanh said in a prayer...

The Lighthouse Trails and Research Project, a religious watchdog organization founded in 2000 by David and Deborah Dombrowski, call eastern spiritual practices “New Age Spirituality” and list it as “a sweeping phenomenon.” The Lighthouse Trials and Research Project goes on to further say, “Christian leaders are embracing practices and a new spirituality that borrows from Eastern mysticism and New Age philosophy… and involve many of the most popular evangelical leaders including Rick Warren, Brian McLaren, Richard Foster, Tony Campolo, and Eugene Peterson.” In Warren's Purpose-Driven Life, he does encourages people to practice "breath prayers" by repeating words and phrases over...

This is a WorldNetDaily printer-friendly version of the article which follows. To view this item online, visit http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55110 Tuesday, April 10, 2007 INTERNET NEWSChristian 'hate sites' blasted by HindusSouthern Baptists, Gospel for Asia, CBN targeted in published report Posted: April 10, 20071:00 a.m. Eastern By Bob Unruh © 2007 WorldNetDaily.com A new report published by a Hindu foundation is blasting Christian organizations across the nation, including the Southern Baptists' missions board, Gospel for Asia and the Minnesota-based Olive Tree Ministries, which aims its ministry at teaching Christians about their beliefs, for having Internet "hate sites." "The proliferation of websites promoting religious...

The Stations of the Cross has two related meanings. In one sense, the Stations of the Cross refers to the liturgical practice of using various events in the final hours of Jesus’ life as a structure for prayer and meditation (also called the Via Crucis or Way of the Cross). These events encompass Jesus’ journey carrying his cross from the Hall of Pilate where he was condemned to death to the site of his execution on Golgotha (Calvary). As part of their acts of devotion, early Christian pilgrims to Jerusalem retraced the route of Jesus as he carried his cross...

“National unity,� “one love,� “inclusion� and “multi-culturalism� are catchwords used by politicians, public speakers and tourist guides to camouflage tensions and divisions in ethnically plural societies like Trinidad and Tobago. Boundaries and enclaves are created and maintained by competing groups to separate the insider from the outsider through a process of absorption, exclusion and subordination (Livezey 2001). Even churches in these societies are not always blessed with tolerance for diverse cultural and theological differences and the acceptance of “other� ethnic identities. I wish to argue that even in Creole, Post-Creole, Plural or Post-Plural societies, equality and mutual respect are superficial...

Hindu groups are launching an international campaign today to halt India?s plans to create a shipping channel by dredging the sea between India and Sri Lanka. They say that the project will destroy an ancient chain of shoals known as Adam?s Bridge, which Hindus believe was built by an army of monkeys to allow Lord Rama to cross to Lanka to rescue his abducted wife. They are also protesting on environmental grounds, arguing that the 30-mile string of limestone shoals, also known as Ram Sethu, protected large parts of India from the 2004 tsunami. ?The bridge is as holy to...

I can summarize spring breaks by pithy quips made by some of the people I've come across in my travels. At his front doorstep, John Kerry asked us who visited him over spring break in 2005, "Why aren't you somewhere warmer?" Much to the confusion of the erstwhile presidential hopeful and those college students yearning for the Mexican coastline, my friends and I have continued a tradition since freshman year by packing our thickest shirts and heaviest sweaters to brace for the Northern Winter. Another spring break, another week spent trekking northwards. This year's destination placed us in Minneapolis, a...

NEW DELHI, India, Mar. 15 /Christian Newswire/ -- The National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (NCSC/ST) recently rejected the demand for affirmative-action benefits for Dalit Christians and Muslims. The committee denied the need for the benefits on the grounds that "untouchability," the main criteria for the benefits, only affected Hindu Dalits. Some Christian organizations in India conducted rallies opposing the decision. They also submitted letters petitioning various government officials to ignore the commission's rejection. In 2005, the Supreme Court requested that the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities (NCRLM) conduct an investigation and complete a report concerning...

NEW DELHI (ICNS): A Delegation of South Indian Bishops and others are camping in the Capital for garnering support among senior cabinet ministers and other important officials in favour of reservation for Dalit Christians. Leading the delegation among others are Archbishop Malayappan Cinnappa of Madras-Mylapore Archdiocese, Archbishop Peter Fernando of the Madurai Archdiocese and Bishop Anthonisamy Neethinathan of Chinglepet diocese. The delegation is expected to meet the Prime minister tomorrow. Among those the delegation has called upon till now are the Tribal affairs minister PR Kyndiah, chairman of the National Minorities Commission Mohammad Hamid Ansari, Labour minister Oscar Fernandes and...

Perhaps the most ancient Christian writings, besides the Holy Scripture, are “the Teaching of the Twelve,” which is commonly referred to as “the Didache” (12), and which is subtitled within itself as, “The Teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles by the Twelve Apostles.” It's date of composition is contentious, with various authors placing it anywhere between 50 A.D. (and thus, it would be older than nearly any New Testament work) and, at the very latest, 160 A.D. Although certain church communities (if they, in fact, refered to this identical document) considered the Didache as scriptural, it was clearly rejected...

Eulogy Edward Rudolph Loesch May 11, 1914 – February 24, 2007 My father, Edward Loesch, came from good German stock who were fleeing from Otto von Bismarck's regime in Germany in 1870. They were wine-barrel makers and draft dodgers. There's a story about Edward's grandfather Adam Loesch, the barrel-maker. In the late 1800's, a fellow offered to put him in charge of his whole barrel-making operation for the newfangled petroleum industry --- a fellow named Andrew Carnegie. But did Adam Loesch take the job? No-o-o. He was no fool. He said, “There's no future in oil. The future's in beer!”...

Many Protestants today realize that Catholics adhere to two of the important "solas" related to salvation sola gratia (by grace alone) and solo Christo (by Christ alone) but fewer are aware that Catholics can also accept the formula of justification sola fide (by faith alone), provided this phrase is properly understood. The term pistis is used in the Bible in a number of different senses, ranging from intellectual belief (Romans 14:22, 23, James 2:19), to assurance (Acts 17:31), and even to trustworthiness or reliability (Romans 3:3, Titus 2:10). Of key importance is Galatians 5:6, which refers to faith working...

Christianity 101 stipulates that the body of Jesus isn't available for viewing. Other religions have it easier. Several hundred people turned out in 2005 to view a touring collection of Buddhist relics at the Thousand Buddha Temple in Quincy. The exhibition displayed relics of Siddhartha, the religious figure most outsiders know simply by his title -- Buddha. The relics included flakes of dried blood, fragments of bone, and cremated remains believed to be those of Buddhism's founder, who died about 2,500 years ago. For Buddhists, viewing a relic is an intense experience. "I can attain pure mind at the moment...

LONDON – Around 250 million Christians worldwide will face persecution in 2007, simply for following Jesus Christ, according to persecution watchdog Release International. In particular the U.K.-based group found that persecution is growing the fastest in the Muslim world. According to Release, most persecution takes place in four distinct “zones”: those of Islam, Communism, Hinduism and Buddhism. But persecution is growing fastest of all in the Muslim world. Governments in even moderate Muslim countries often fail to safeguard the rights of their Christian minorities, explained RI. Abuses suffered by Christians include kidnapping, forced conversion, imprisonment, church destruction, torture, rape and...

"Truth comes out breaking the walls of a fortress" is a Punjabi saying. For the lovers of truth G. B. Singh has exploded the Gandhi myth – apostle of peace, emancipator of untouchables and liberator of India by peaceful means from the British yoke – by publishing his labor of love, Gandhi: Behind the Mask of Divinity. G. B. Singh studied Gandhi for over twenty years collecting Gandhi’s speeches, writings and other documents, which the promoters of Gandhi left out intentionally to create a twentieth century messiah by fusing Jesus Christ and Vishnu. The oppressors – the proponents of colonialism,...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Courtney Kuehn went to a Hmong wedding and — surprise! — tradition dictated a toast to her old college roommate. Paul Purdy went to synagogue with a Jewish girlfriend and accidentally stood for the Mourner’s Kaddish. Such trans-cultural encounters are common in a nation under many gods, especially this time of year when celebrations often involve friends from other faiths. Questions come up. Is it OK to serve pork at a holiday party? Should my Buddhist friend get a Christmas card? Religious etiquette guides offer some answers. The books, including ‘‘How to be a Perfect Stranger’’...

Rome, Dec. 13, 2006 (CWNews.com) - Italy’s National Alliance party is leading a petition drive among Catholics in the Liguria region, asking the bishops there to allow at least one Sunday Mass each week celebrated in the Tridentine rite. The National Alliance, concerned about the steady influx of immigrants from South America and Eastern Europe into Liguria, argues that the use of the 1962 Missal would be an effective way to help integrate the new residents into the region’s traditional culture. Formed by an alliance of the Italian Social Movement with members of the defunct Christian Democrat party, the center-right...

RAXAUL, India (UCAN) -- A center for people with leprosy that a Catholic priest manages in eastern India chose to have its oldest worker preside at its silver jubilee celebration. Joining Gourishankar Rout, 90, on the dais for the Nov. 24 program at Little Flower Leprosy Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre were a Catholic bishop, a Hindu priest and a Muslim cleric. The center is in Raxaul, a town in Bihar state, 1,030 kilometers east of New Delhi. Father Christ Das, a priest of Bettiah diocese, started the center in 1981 with about 100 people suffering from leprosy, including Rout, a...

OLD GOA, India (UCAN) – Cardinal Paul Poupard, who heads the pontifical councils for culture and for interreligious dialogue, visited a Hindu temple, met with its priest and was "fascinated" by the experience. Cardinal Poupard, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, arrived Nov. 19 for a five-day visit to Goa state, a former Portuguese colony and a Catholic stronghold on the western Indian coast. Its capital, Panaji, is 1,910 kilometers (about 1,185 miles) southwest of New Delhi.The cardinal came to chair the Nov. 21-23 meeting of Christian cultural centers that his council organized. On the evening of his arrival...

The following is taken from this weeks VOM Canada's Persecution and Prayer Alert. Over the past week, Indian Christians have been forced to worship Hindu deities in Karnataka state, according to two reports from Compass Direct. According to a November 3 report, when Hindu villagers in Kurumaradikere noted on October 29 that local Christians had not participated in the annual Depavali festival, they demanded that Pastor Naik (39) and the eleven families of his congregation worship Hindu deities as a "gesture of symbolic repentance." At a meeting called by local leaders, they interrogated the pastor about whether or not he...

All, Some time ago the RM declared threads labeled with the term Caucus as being off limits to FReepers not of that particular tradition/denomination/group. The purpose of this label is to identify it for discussion among a set group, without disruption by other corners of Christianity or religions. A recent thread has resulted in much discussion about how to define a “Caucus.” The RM has suggested that the following: “if you can manage some agreement within your caucus and with posters of other caucuses - Catholic, Mormon, Pentecostal - start a "research" thread to negotiate and gather up the various...