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An ancient Hindu phallic symbol believed to be more than 1,000 years old has been found at a local temple in Tha Sala district. Anat Bamrungwong, director of 14th Regional Office of the Fine Arts Department in Nakhon Sithammarat, said Thursday the shiva linga or Hindu phallic symbol is believed to be about 1,300-1,400 years old. Hinduism thrived in Surat Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat around the 10th-12th centuries, Mr Anat said... The shiva linga has a base which is about 47cm wide and 1 metre long. Its base has flowers carved in relief which in the Tawaravadee style, Mr...

Textbooks in Pakistan that are used to teach about 41 million children, negatively portray religious minorities such as Christians and Hindus, referring to them as "nefarious, violent, and tyrannical by nature." (Reuters/Kham)Third-grade level students attend class at the Mashal Model School on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan. "Pakistan's public school textbooks contain deeply troubling content that portrays non-Muslim citizens as outsiders, unpatriotic, and inferior; are filled with errors; and present widely-disputed historical 'facts' as settled history," said Robert George in a press release. George is the chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). A study done by...

Caption - To establish a caliphate, al-Hanif promises to topple Shiekh Hasina government in Bangladesh. ISIS vows to implement 'sharia' law in India. Islamic State (ISIS) has made new threat to send its fighters from Pakistan and Bangladesh to carry out 'guerrilla attacks' in India. In a recent interview carried by Dabiq magazine, the 'amir' of ISIS fighters in Bangladesh, Shaykh Abu Ibrahim al-Hanif has vowed to wipe out Hindus and implement 'sharia' law in India and Bangladesh. al-Hanif also revealed the terror group is currently training fighters in Bangladesh and Pakistan to launch attacks on India and is seeking...

For about 60 million years during the Eocene epoch, the Indian subcontinent was a huge island. Having broken off from the ancient continent of Gondwanaland, the Indian Tectonic Plate drifted toward Eurasia. During that gradual voyage, the subcontinent saw a blossoming of exceptional wildlife, and when the trove of unique biodiversity finally made contact with bigger Eurasia, the exchange of animals and plants between these areas laid the foundations for countless modern species. "Today, mainland Asia and India have all this unique biodiversity -- but did the mainland Asian biodiversity come from India, or did the Indian biodiversity come from...

The resolution was presented by a Hindu deputy. Activists working on behalf of minorities appreciate the decision. Others point out some shortcomings: the holidays will be reserved only for religious minorities and not to the entire population. Focus needed on concrete respect for minority rights.Islamabad (AsiaNews) - The Pakistani National Assembly has passed a resolution that grants holiday time for Christians to celebrate Easter and Hindus and their Holi and Diwali celebrations. The resolution is the work of Vankwani Ramesh Kumar, an Assembly member of the Hindu faith. While some minority rights activists appreciate the initiative, others point out that...

According to Dr. Joel Mathews, the phrase "In God We Trust" was first printed on our coins in 1864 and on paper bills in 1957. It had been proposed that "Our Country, Our God, Our Trust" be used, but that was shortened to be able to stamp the motto onto coins. Kansas State University Polytechnic's March Civic Luncheon began with Kansas Weslyan University's Dr. Philip Meckley asking: o How can we look at comparative religious traditions? o How can we live with differences for the sake of our human community? Matthews, a K-State Polytechnic instructor, began the lecture by saying...

Two assailants armed with pistols and cleavers attacked Jogeswar Roy, 45, the head priest of Sri Sri Sant Gourio Math, at his home in the temple on Sunday morning, officials said. "The priest was preparing for morning prayers when they pounced on him and slit his head from the body at the verandah of his home inside the temple," said Shafiqul Islam, a government administrator in the sub-district Debiganj where the temple is located. Two devotees were wounded in the attack including one who was shot as he tried to save the priest, he added. The motive for the murder...

A Texas mother is speaking out after her daughter's school gave the young girl a henna tattoo the week before Christmas. Tammy Samour was shocked when she picked up her daughter Leah, 7, from Ed White Elementary School in Houston and saw the second grader's hands covered in the designs, which are traditionally applied to the hands and feet of women during Hindu ceremonies and festivals. That shock soon turned to outrage however as Ms. Samour says she never gave the school permission to tattoo Leah - and now the brown paste will not wash off her hands. It can...

For five years, Omar Fernandes worked as a member of the ground staff at the Mumbai airport. The end of each day was marked by coffee and conversations with colleagues. "Most of the men I worked with were in their 40s and 50s," says the 30-year-old. "They would talk about how miserable they were at work, how they were struggling to provide for their families. It seemed like such a hard life." These conversations began to crystallise his resolve to become a priest. It's something he'd been thinking about for four years already. "I was 24 when I got my...

I am a Hindu. I am hearing alot about religious persecution from the lawyers representing the family of the Islamic terrorists. But my "second home" is India. I know a lot about Islam. Come with me to Kolkata (Calcutta), I can show you Islam. I know how this game works, and this grievance game. Politics and religion are one and the same in this modern radical Islam. So let me give my view of religion and politics because today, it is one and the same, because today where you stand in politics has a lot to bare on where you...

Newt Gingrich, shown in a file photo, is the Hindu group's honorary chairman Associated Press There is only one Hindu in Congress and she is a Democrat. But as of Tuesday, there will be a Republican Hindu Coalition, comprised of Indian Americans looking to amplify their voice in U.S. politics. The group, which formally launches Tuesday evening, isn't aimed at bolstering the ranks of Hindus across the aisle from Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D., Hawaii). Instead, the coalition is focused on advancing conservative policies important to the Republican Hindu community, including fiscal discipline, expanded trade, and forceful defense, said its founder...

Pakistan's leading Islamist daily Roznama Ummat has alleged that extremist Hindu groups have taken over Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and argued that that extremist Hindu organizations are forging close alliances with Zionist groups with the aim of establishing a new world order. .....

In this very fascinating interview with U.S. House of Representatives Tulsi Gabbard, a Democrat representing Hawaii, she admits something that many conservatives have suspected for a long time. Watch below (starting at the 1:45 mark) Tulsi Gabbard is a top Democrat in the Democratic National Committee but she is one of the few honest Democrats who has actually criticized Obama on his foreign policy failures. But, it must be noted that she says he's essentially working hand in hand with Islamist extremists, but she's not saying that he's actually directly working with them. She admits that his foreign policy is...

One point we’ve been particularly keen on driving home since the beginning of Russian airstrikes in Syria is that The Kremlin’s move to step in on behalf of Bashar al-Assad along with Vladimir Putin’s open “invitation” to Washington with regard to joining forces in the fight against terrorism effectively let the cat out of the proverbial bag. That is, it simply wasn’t possible for the US to explain why the Pentagon refused to partner with the Russians without admitting that i) the government views Assad, Russia, and Iran as a greater threat than ISIS, and ii) Washington and its regional...

Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, a vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said the committee disinvited her from the first Democratic presidential debate after she publicly called for more face-offs. Ms. Gabbard said her staff received the message last Tuesday from the chief of staff to Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the DNC chairwoman, a day after she appeared on MSNBC demanding more than the current six sanctioned debates, The New York Times reported.

She was Hawaii's golden girl after winning a seat in Congress with support from top liberal groups, but now that Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has been critical of President Obama, her political reputation in the bluest of blue states is taking a hit. That isn’t stopping the twice-deployed 33-year-old Army veteran from continuing to challenge the president, her home state's favorite son, over his refusal to identify terror groups like the Islamic State as driven by "radical Islam.” “Every soldier knows this simple fact: If you don't know your enemy, you will not be able to defeat him,” Gabbard told...

By attacking President Obama over word choice, Hawaii's congressional representative is losing sight of what really matters. The unseemly and very public semantics battle that U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has been waging this year against President Barack Obama had largely been one-sided. Gabbard, a second-term Democrat, has become a relentless critic over the past month of the president’s restrained characterization of terrorists from the self-proclaimed Islamic State (or ISIS or ISIL). And her criticisms have come through some surprising channels: The bright-red Right, where this sort of thinking has long been a staple for Fox News, talk radio and the...

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said Friday that Islamic extremists were at war with the United States, and urged the Obama administration to adopt the same view. "I'm upset that the president and the White House...is not actually saying this is a war that the Islamic extremists are posing against the United States and against the West," she said during an appearance on CNN’s “The Situation Room” Friday. In the same interview, Gabbard referred to the threat posed by “this radical Islamic extremist agenda." The White House has tried to avoid using the...

In a secret meeting on Tuesday morning, Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) hosted a bipartisan group of senators and House members in the Capitol’s basement. According to several participants, the lawmakers plotted ways to stop the use of U.S. military force in Syria. Since the diplomatic situation is fluid, there was no final consensus on how best to combat the administration, but potential legislative maneuvers, press appearances, and letters were discussed. Several undecided members asked questions. Aides say Paul planned the gathering over a week ago, and the list of attendees grew by the day. He is pleased, especially, by...

The Talk Shows June 23th, 2013 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Mike Lee, R-Utah; Gabriel Gomez, Republican nominee for Senate in Massachusetts.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Reps. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., and Mike Rogers, R-Mich.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.THIS WEEK (ABC): Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency; Reps. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas; Mike Kelly, R-Pa.; and Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii.STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky.,...