Mantras from Rig-Veda read at University of Nevada-Reno “Inner-Faith Night” celebrations

March 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Nevada (US), Mar 5 (ANI): “First Annual Inner-Faith Night” of University of Nevada-Reno (UNR) on March three saw various religious groups coming together in prayer and dialogue.

This unity celebration included prayers, music, and dialogue in Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jew, Native American, Daoism, Confucianism, Unitarian Universalist, Children of Temple Earth, Sacred Circle Clan, and Atheist traditions. Some educational leaders and representatives of area political leaders also participated, besides students, clergy and others. UNR Unity Commission and Inner-Faith Council were co-sponsors.

Coordinators of the event, UNR Unity Commissioner Maggie Overmoen and area interfaith leader Rajan Zed, plan to make it an annual tradition where students, area clergy belonging to various religions and denominations, and civic and educational leaders can come together and seek unity that celebrates diversity.

Besides Zed and Overmoen, presenters included Dr. Ole Thienhaus, Dean of UNR School of Medicine; Pedro Martinez, Deputy Superintendent of Washoe County School District; Bobby Grossi (Christian); Ahmad Saad (Islam); Rabbi Elizabeth W. Beyer & Jon Leo (Judaism); Gary Goodsell (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints); Irwin Sharp Fish (Native American spirituality); Neal Anderson (Unitarian Universalism); Jason Molt (Atheism); Katherine Robinson (Daoism and Confucianism); Laura Fitzpatrick (Children of Temple Earth); Kim Pennington (Sacred Circle Clan); Scott & Corinn Gayer & Seth Dines (Christian music); Jim Eagle Smith (Tibetan Buddhist and Hindu chants); Susan Lisagor (representing Senator Harry Reid); Katie Pace (representing Congressman Dean Heller); and Batyr Odeyev (Dutar).

Rajan Zed, who read prayer out of Rig-Veda, oldest existing scripture dating to around 1,500 BCE, said that dialogue brought us mutual enrichment and helped us overcome prejudices passed on to us by previous generations.

Details of the picture attached: Religious leaders and others belonging to various religions/denominations at the “First Annual Inner-Faith Night” of University of Nevada-Reno (USA). (ANI)

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Myanmar pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi to testify Tuesday

May 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Yangon – Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is scheduled to testify in court Tuesday against charges that she broke her terms of detention by allowing a US national to swim to her lakeside house-cum-prison, her lawyer said Monday.

At least 30 diplomats and 25 journalists will be invited to the trial Tuesday, court sources said.

“We did not have sufficient time to discuss with Daw (Mrs) Aung San Suu Kyi the full defence,” Nyan Win, part of Suu Kyi’s defence team, said.

The defence will present four witnesses Tuesday, including Win Tin, veteran journalist and senior executive member of the National League for Democracy (NLD) opposition party, that Suu Kyi leads.

Suu Kyi, her two house helpers and US citizen John William Yettaw, 53, have been accused of violating Suu Kyi’s terms of household arrest after Yettaw entered her Yangon compound on May 3 and stayed until swimming away on May 6.

Yettaw, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, faces several charges including immigration violations for visiting a prisoner while on a tourist visa, and breaking municipal laws for swimming illegally in Inya Lake, according to state media reports.

Prosecutors claimed last week that Yettaw first visited Suu Kyi’s house on November 30 when he handed over his church’s Book of Mormon to her servants for Suu Kyi to read.

His uninvited May 3 visit to Suu Kyi’s residence has allowed the ruling junta to charge her with violating the terms of her house detention, which has lasted the past six years and was due to expire on May 27.

The new case against Suu Kyi, which began a week ago in Yangon’s Insein Prison, has outraged the international community and even prompted warnings from Myanmar’s close allies in the Association of South-East Asian Nations.

It is widely believed that the judges would find Suu Kyi guilty and sentence her to another three to five years in detention, long enough to keep her out of the political picture while the junta stages a general election next year.

Suu Kyi, 63, is the leader of the NLD opposition party which won the 1990 general election by a landslide, but has been blocked from power by Myanmar’s junta for the past 19 years. She has spent 13 of those years under house arrest.(dpa)

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Church investigates posthumous baptism of Obama’s mother

May 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New York, May 6 (ANI): The posthumous “baptism” of President Barack Obama’s mother Stanley Ann Dunham is being probed by a Mormon Church as a “serious breach” of religious code.

Records available with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints show that Dunham, who died in 1995, was baptized last June 4 in Provo, Utah, and received endowment, another sacrament, a week later.

“The offering of baptism to our deceased ancestors is a sacred practice to us and it is counter to Church policy for a Church member to submit names for baptism for persons to whom they are not related,” the politico quoted church’s spokeswoman Kim Farah in an emailed statement.

“The Church is looking into the circumstances of how this happened and does not yet have all the facts. However, this is a serious matter and we are treating it as such,” she added.

Mormons believe that souls cannot enter heaven without undergoing baptism and other sacraments, and that those sacraments can be given by proxy after death.

In the past, the practice of posthumous baptism caused controversy when Jewish groups raised objections to the baptism of victims of the Holocaust.

According to “doctrinal background” of the church, “well-meaning Church members sometimes bypass this instruction and submit the names of non-relatives for temple baptism.”

Others have submitted the names of unrelated famous or infamous people, or even wholly fictitious names. These rare acts are contrary to Church policy. (ANI)

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