 |
|
|
|
|
March 26th, 2013
02:32 PM ET
Hindus celebrate Holi, the Festival of Colors(CNN)– Holi is an annual Hindu festival welcoming the arrival of spring. The official day of celebration this year is March 27, but regional celebrations have occurred over the past week. Here's a look at some of the best pictures from this year's celebration.
February 11th, 2013
04:51 AM ET
36 killed in stampede at Indian rail station near huge Hindu festivalBy Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN A railroad station crush left 36 people dead Sunday among tens of millions of Hindu pilgrims flocking to the banks of the Ganges River for the world's largest religious gathering, authorities reported. The stampede occurred on Sunday evening as floods of pilgrims entering the station in Allahabad, the scene of this year's Kumbh Mela festival, broke through temporary barriers and crowded onto already busy platforms, railway authorities said. FULL STORY
January 12th, 2013
06:00 AM ET
Hindu holy book coming to a nightstand near youBy Jordan Hultine, CNN CNN–It’s about to get crowded in your hotel room nightstand. The newest addition could soon be a sacred Hindu text called the Bhagavad-Gita. The Bhagavad-Gita is literally translated as “song of God” and is a discussion between Lord Krishna and his student, Arjuna, on revealing one’s spiritual identity and a relationship with God, says Vaisesika Dasa, founder and president of the Motel Gita project, the group behind the effort. Motel Gita, with the help of a Hindu nonprofit, has distributed approximately 150,000 copies of the Bhagavad-Gita to 1,100 hotels and motels. Dasa said their goal is to place at least 1 million books to, “provide solace to traveling souls by giving them spiritual knowledge.” 
January 10th, 2013
06:00 AM ET
Expectations high for first Hindu member of CongressBy Dan Merica, CNN Washington (CNN)-– Just days after Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii was sworn in as the first Hindu member of Congress, Hindu American advocacy groups made it clear that they hope Gabbard will help represent the nation’s wider Hindu community, on top of her Hawaiian constituents. Groups like the Hindu American Foundation and the Hare Krishna Society have lists of priorities they plan to present to Gabbard, making clear that expectations are high for the groundbreaking congresswoman. While many of these groups priorities for Gabbard center on faith – “international religious liberty,” “religious diversity and freedom in America,” and “generating appreciation and respect for Hindu American contributions” – some focus on legislating in general, like being a “voice for moderation and ‘reaching across the aisle’ in Congress.” 
December 18th, 2012
02:31 PM ET
5 takeaways from new Pew survey on global religionBy Dan Merica, CNN Washington (CNN) – The world is religiously diverse and overwhelmingly faithful, according to a study released Tuesday by The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The study, which is a snapshot of world religions in 2010 and does not show trends, brings to light a unique religious landscape that's defined by a burgeoning Islam, a shifting Christianity and a large group of religiously unaffiliated. It took Pew three years to compile. Five big takeaways from the study: 1.) Muslims and Hindus are noticeably young The median age of Muslims (23) and Hindus (26) is significantly lower than the global median age of 28 years old.  An Indian artist gives the final touches to a statue of Hindu goddess Kali ahead of the Diwali festival, the Festival of Lights, in Allahabad on November 10, 2012.
November 22nd, 2012
06:35 AM ET
My Take: A multireligious Thanksgiving
By Stephen Prothero, Special to CNN (CNN) - A few years ago, I came across a high school textbook on U.S. history that stumbled badly when it tried to describe the first Thanksgiving. Because of a serious misunderstanding of the First Amendment, the authors thought they couldn’t even refer to God in their textbook. So they ended up telling their readers that the Pilgrims were giving thanks to the Indians. (Huh?) Personally, I think Thanksgiving is (and was) about giving thanks to God, but I am too eclectic nowadays to confine my giving of thanks to the capricious Calvinist God of the Pilgrims. So in the spirit of Pascal, who placed a wager on the Christian god, I'm putting a marker down, too. But why confine your wager to one divinity? Here is my own Thanksgiving litany to the gods.  A rangoli artwork, as created and captured by iReporter Kshitij Sharma, adorns a sidewalk in Pune, India. "I think this festival reminds us to stay away from bad things and to promote communal harmony," he says.
November 14th, 2012
05:43 AM ET
Dyes, candles and mountains of food: Your Diwali shots from around the worldBy Stina Backer and Eoghan Macguire, for CNN Diwali is one of the most important events in the Hindu spiritual calendar. It is known as the "Festival of Lights" and takes place between mid October and mid November each year. This year we asked iReporters from around the world to submit their best images of the celebration. View the other Diwali photos and read the full story A neon sign celebrating Diwali 2012 hangs above Singapore's Little India district.
November 13th, 2012
09:21 AM ET
Celebrating Diwali? Send an iReportDiwali, also known as the Festival of Lights, begins on November 13 and is celebrated for several days afterward by millions of Hindus across the world as one of the most important events on their spiritual calendar. The word Diwali itself means 'festival of lamps', because houses and public spaces are decorated with scores of small oil lamps in honor of the goddess Lakshmi, to whom Hindus pray to for success and wealth. Throughout the festival, families purchase new clothes and buy sweets and snacks for themselves, relatives and friends. To commemorate Diwali, we want to see your best images of the most beautiful festival lights. Send them to CNN iReport.
November 12th, 2012
02:03 PM ET
First Hindu elected to CongressBy Dana Davidsen, CNN (CNN) - In an election that broke boundaries, Hawaii elected the nation's first practicing Hindu to the U.S. House of Representatives. Congresswoman-elect Tulsi Gabbard, who will represent the state's second district, told CNN Monday that her election "shows the respect, diversity and love and aloha that people have in Hawaii that would allow for something like this to happen." The 31-year-old Democrat said she will take her oath of office on the Hindu religious text Bhagavad Gita in January. "I think it's a perfect time and a great time for Congress to start moving toward this representation on diversity and really this common ideal that regardless of what our differences might be, we all need to come together now to do what's best for the people," Gabbard said. FULL STORY
November 9th, 2012
05:00 AM ET
My Take: 7 Ways religious diversity played in the election
By Stephen Prothero, Special to CNN “It’s demography, stupid!” is the new mantra for analyzing the 2012 election, in which African Americans, Asian Americans and Latinos cast their votes in overwhelming numbers for President Obama. But religious diversity was another key theme. How so? Let me count the ways. |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke and Eric Marrapodi with daily contributions from CNN's worldwide newsgathering team and frequent posts from religion scholar and author Stephen Prothero.  |
|
|
|
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertise with us | About us | Help | Advertising Practices
Editor's Note: Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar and author of 
