The debate over the veil has become a big topic in Britain. First, a judge ordered a Muslim woman testifying in court to remove her head covering or niqab while testifying. Now, Home Office minister Jeremy Browne calls for debate on whether young Muslim girls, under 18, should be allowed to wear a full head covering in public places. Do you agree with the minister?  Read the story in the Guardian here and this one from the New York Times. The... Read more

Should a Muslim woman who wears a full head covering (Niqab) remove it when giving evidence in court?  That’s what a judge in a London court ruled.  He did say that the woman could be shielded by a screen and would only be seen by the jury and lawyers. According to a story in the BBC, the judge said: “The ability of the jury to see the defendant for the purposes of evaluating her evidence is crucial.”   The judge... Read more

Where was the Buddha born? Nepal or India? Know your audience when you answer. Some Indians will be furious if you say Nepal and the Nepalese will be equally angry if you say India. Most scholars agree that the Buddha was born around 623 BCE in Lumbini on the plains of southern Nepal. But the misconception persists, according to a story in the Huffington Post. For example, CNN analyst, Fareed Zakaria, sparked a big protest when he wrote in a... Read more

What are the five most contested sites in Jerusalem?  How many of them do your religion students know?  Here’s what CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor, Daniel Burke, argues are the most contested: The Temple Mount: It’s here, inside the Dome of the Rock, that Abraham almost sacrificed his son, Issac, before an angel intervened. Haram al-Sharif: Muslims call the Temple Mount “Haram al-Sharif’ or Noble Sanctuary. After completion of the Dome of the Rock, Muslims, soon after the death of the... Read more

Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh began auctioning his calligraphic work last week in a silent auction called “Calligraphic Meditation: The Mindful Art of Thich Nhat Hanh.”  The proceeds from the sales will go back to Hahn’s various monasteries. On the opening night, September 6th, Hahn gave a live performance where, according to this review in the Huffington Post, “he crafted five additional pieces of art to be auctioned off.” Hahn says that writing calligraphy is like meditation. “In... Read more

An exhibit of Indian art representing the work of the The Sahmat Collective opened this week at the Ackland Art Museum at UNC-Chapel Hill.  It’s a fascinating exhibit that demonstrates that art can have a clear political purpose. That’s because the Sahmat Collective protests political violence, religious fundamentalism and anti-democratic forces. The collective started in 1989 after the murder of a progressive political critic and artist, Safdar Hashmi. His death made him a symbol for the collective and according to... Read more

Manjari Sharma‘s photographs of ancient mystical and spiritual Hindu figures are stunning. You can see some of them here at the Huffington Post.  Some are very large and you will get a sense of this magnitude when you scroll through the images at the Post.  You can view them as a slideshow here, if you click on the show’s title, Darshan, on the left sidebar. Sharma, born in India, now works and lives in Brooklyn, NY, where she is exhibiting her... Read more

Andrew Brown, editor of the Guardian’s Cif belief blog, wrote a series about “what is religion?”  In part 1, he discusses civil religion and the state. In Part 2, he discusses why football doesn’t measure up and in part 3, he explores the role of ritual in religion. All three parts are interesting and might work for a World Religions class and provide a basis for some discussion. Read more

Happy birthday, Ganesh, Hindu patron of the arts and sciences and deity of intellect and wisdom. Ganesh is one of the most popular Hindu gods and his birthday begins a 10-day festival.  According to this short overview of the celebration from the Huffington Post, the festival is celebrated all over India with special prayers,  devotional chants, and singing. The holiday is based on the Hindu calendar and, says the Post, usually falls between August 20 and September 15th.The festival for Ganesh... Read more