Religion Dispatches
…ually be taught to all the thousands of Tibetan monks and nuns in exile in India. In the pilot we just completed, several professors and graduate students taught life sciences, neurosciences, physics, math, and science philosophy to thirty-three monks and 5 nuns. Evolution was the first life sciences topic two of my co-teachers and I decided to focus on. For my section, the monks developed an experiment to test the hypothesis, a small piece of Dar…
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…s lived in distinct territories, and the Ottomans never ruled over greater India, a Muslim minority in India, under British rule, resented and feared British colonial aggression against an important symbol of their faith. So Shia and Sunni Muslims joined together to support what was traditionally a Sunni institution, the Caliphate. Fast forward a few decades to the Pakistan Movement, which grew out of concerns for the status of Muslim minorities i…
Read More…, noting the difficulties in getting implementing acts through Parliament. India: Human Rights Watch Urges Repeal of Sodomy Law Human Rights Watch this week said there is an “urgent need” to repeal India’s “archaic” law that criminalizes same-sex relations. Fiji: Prime Minister Dismisses Marriage Equality As Rubbish, Says Couple Should Move to Iceland Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said in response to a suggestion that the country should conside…
Read More…egically At least two gatherings in the past week focused on the strategic promotion of LGBT equality abroad. On Friday, December 6, in Washington, D.C., the Center for Transatlantic Relations, which is part of the Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, hosted a presentation called “LGBT Rights: A Geostrategic Issue for Democracies.” The panel, part of a series of discussions on the topic, featured Elizabe…
Read More…ent Hinduism or Buddhism, but certainly influence the issue of violence in Indian society. Indeed, if the demand is to quote a prominent public figure who can credibly speak for Buddhists on the topic of violence in India today, then only the Dalai Lama would suffice. (For the curious, his comments are here.) Another commenter noted “the Kakacupama Sutta was not a teaching given to young laywomen.” This is true. Buddhism’s historical emphasis on m…
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…anizations, and individuals from any attempt to curb or obstruct religious freedom or freedom of conscience which are guaranteed by international human rights laws.” Caruana said that although TEAM was aware that marriage equality will not affect religious marriage, it was still concerned about religious rights. “As Christians we believe that according to Biblical teaching, God ordained marriage as a union between one man and one woman for the rea…
Read More…insists also that a fundamental human right is the protection of religious freedom–namely, freedom of conscience, belief, and religion, including, alone and in community, in private and in public, the right to freedom of worship and practice, the right to manifest one’s religion, as well as the right of religious communities to religious education and to the full function and exercise of their religious duties, without any form of direct or indire…
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…ect Pride marches, and are perfectly capable of doing the same in Nikšić.” India: Court investigating parents’ attempt to force trans man to marry The Delhi High Court heard allegations that the parents of Shivy, an 18-year-old transgender man living in the United States tricked him into visiting India on a holiday, took his passport and green card, and tried to forcibly marry him to a man. He says he fears for the safety of transgender activists…
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…t stands with – the new enslavers of Lithuania, those who will destroy our freedom, or with its own Nation, aiming to remain free.” Church of England: Gay clergy plan coming out about their marriages The Times reports that a dozen Church of England clergy are preparing to go public with the fact that they have married their same-sex partners in defiance of church rules. “Half of the signatories had already declared themselves to be in a same-sex m…
Read More…cerns [the march] would provoke clashes between gays and their opponents”. India: Census Documents Nearly 500,000 Hijra We reported in May that India’s Supreme Court had ruled in favor of allowing transgender people to identify themselves as a “third gender” on official documents. Less than 30,000 people used that designation in registering for the recent general election, but data released from last year’s national census – which included a third…
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