http://www.religionnewsblog.com Religion news about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:58:39 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25663/karmapa-controversy http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25663/karmapa-controversy#comments Tue, 01 Feb 2011 10:00:04 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=25663 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25663/karmapa-controversy/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25535/rebel-group-in-bangladesh-prevented-christmas-worship http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25535/rebel-group-in-bangladesh-prevented-christmas-worship#comments Tue, 28 Dec 2010 05:35:15 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=25535 One of the two main political parties of the indigenous people in Bangladesh’s southeastern hill tracts prevented Christians from celebrating Christmas, sources said.

The United People’s Democratic Front (UPDF), which has demanded that Christian converts return to Buddhism, threatened tribal Christians of at least seven churches in Khagrachari district, some 300 kilometers (180 miles) southeast of the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka. ]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25535/rebel-group-in-bangladesh-prevented-christmas-worship/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25225/balance-spiritual-and-secular-dalai-lama-urges http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25225/balance-spiritual-and-secular-dalai-lama-urges#comments Mon, 18 Oct 2010 09:03:10 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=25225 Scientists and religious practitioners can learn a lot from each other and should work together to find a productive balance between spirituality and secular research, the Dalai Lama said Sunday.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader's comments came at a news conference kicking off his three-day visit to Emory University in Atlanta. During his visit, he plans to teach, lecture and receive an update on the development of the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative.

The Dalai Lama is a presidential distinguished professor at Emory — the only university appointment he has accepted.

The Dalai Lama said he has long been interested in scientific knowledge — particularly in the areas of cosmology, neurobiology, physics and psychology, which he says are mentioned in Buddhist texts.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25225/balance-spiritual-and-secular-dalai-lama-urges/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25158/bangladesh-christians-captured-forced-to-return-to-buddhism http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25158/bangladesh-christians-captured-forced-to-return-to-buddhism#comments Mon, 27 Sep 2010 15:10:43 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=25158 Buddhist extremists held eight Chakma Christians for four days to force them to return to Buddhism.

The captives were all forced to wear Buddhist robes, shave their heads, bow down before a statue of Buddha and clean the temple; they were also threatened with beatings and even death if they tried to escape.]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/25158/bangladesh-christians-captured-forced-to-return-to-buddhism/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24816/buddhist-bhutan-proposes-%e2%80%98anti-conversion%e2%80%99-law http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24816/buddhist-bhutan-proposes-%e2%80%98anti-conversion%e2%80%99-law#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2010 07:56:21 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=24816 The amendment bill would punish “proselytizing” that “uses coercion or other forms of inducement” – vaguely enough worded, Christians fear, that vigilantes could use it to jail them for following the commands of Christ to feed, clothe and otherwise care for the poor.

“There was always a virtual anti-conversion law in place, but now it is on paper too,” said a senior pastor from Thimphu on condition of anonymity. “Seemingly it is aimed at controlling the growth of Christianity.”]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24816/buddhist-bhutan-proposes-%e2%80%98anti-conversion%e2%80%99-law/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24440/the-dalai-lama-on-violence http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24440/the-dalai-lama-on-violence#comments Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:38:24 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=24440 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/24440/the-dalai-lama-on-violence/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23681/tensions-rise-as-police-question-monks-followers http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23681/tensions-rise-as-police-question-monks-followers#comments Tue, 22 Sep 2009 08:41:04 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23681 Followers of an internationally known Buddhist monk say tensions are rising at a monastery in Vietnam's Central Highlands after local officials accused them of trying to "sabotage" Vietnam's communist government.

An angry crowd gathered outside the Bat Nha monastery on Monday and local police conducted late-night searches of the rooms, said Brother Phap Tu, speaking by telephone Tuesday from the compound in Lam Dong province.

AP says the monks and nuns there are followers of Thich Nhat Hanh, an exiled Vietnam-born monk who has sold more than 1 million English-books in the West and is now based at the Plum Village monastery in southern France. ]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23681/tensions-rise-as-police-question-monks-followers/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23490/religion-news-blog-roundup-2 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23490/religion-news-blog-roundup-2#comments Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:32:14 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23490 Today's Religion News Roundup brings you soothsayers, fortune tellers, astrologers, a 'vampire', and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

With the flim-flam out of the way, there's also room for the Samaritan ("the smallest sect in the world"), China's whining about the Dalai Lama, and some religion/abortion issues. ]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23490/religion-news-blog-roundup-2/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23474/rnbs-religion-news-roundup http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23474/rnbs-religion-news-roundup#comments Mon, 18 May 2009 14:53:12 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23474 In today's RNB Religion News Roundup we've got items about religious radio/tv programming, the Grand Prix Priest does Britain's Got Talent, and human rights abuser Donald Rumsfeld quoting the Bible.

Imagine playing John Lennon's anti-religious Imagine at church...

And then there's a Catholic spokesman whose quotes newspapers have to ---- out. ]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23474/rnbs-religion-news-roundup/feed 0 http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23450/gross-national-happiness http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23450/gross-national-happiness#comments Thu, 07 May 2009 06:26:03 +0000 Religion News Blog http://www.religionnewsblog.com/?p=23450 In the tiny Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan, high in the Himalayan mountains, under a new Constitution adopted last year, government programs — from agriculture to transportation to foreign trade — must be judged not by the economic benefits they may offer but by the happiness they produce.

Now, the Bhutanese are refining the country’s guiding philosophy into what they see as a new political science, and it has ripened into government policy just when the world may need it]]> http://www.religionnewsblog.com/23450/gross-national-happiness/feed 0