Letter Revealing How Gandhi Really Felt About Christianity Is Sold For $50,000

From Huffington-

A private buyer has purchased a historical letter in which Indian independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi muses about his personal relationship with Jesus and Christianity.

The typed document, which contains Gandhi’s handwritten signature, sold to a buyer for $50,000 on Friday, according to Nathan Raab, president of the historical document dealer Raab Collection in Ardmore, Pa. The company told HuffPost it does not disclose the identity of its buyers or sellers.

In 1926, an American Christian religious elder, Milton Newberry Frantz, wrote to Gandhi, inviting the Hindu leader to read an article Frantz had written about Christianity. On April 6 of that year, Gandhi wrote back to Frantz from an ashram in Gujarat.

Gandhi wrote that he felt Jesus was “one of the great teachers of mankind.” However, he couldn’t subscribe to the Christian belief that Jesus was more than that.

More here-

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/letter-gandhi-christianity-sold-50000_us_5a9d64f6e4b089ec353d4e26

Cranston Episcopal church welcomes Jewish congregation into its home

From Rhode Island-

It could be considered a tale of three religions involving a Jewish congregation, the state’s only Hindu temple, and an Episcopal parish.

On Sunday, Congregation Or Chadash marked its move from the Hindu temple that once served as its home to its new home at Trinity Episcopal Church in Cranston with the ceremonial carrying of its three Torahs through Pawtuxet Village.

“This whole event is to celebrate a new life,” said Judith Bessoff. The congregation’s name itself — Or Chadash — stands for new light, she said.

The procession started in the parking lot of the former Bank Cafe, in the heart of the village on the Warwick side. Three congregation members carried hefty Torah scrolls, each containing five books central to Jewish teachings, under the cover of a sheer white chuppah. The group made its way across the Narragansett Parkway, over the Pawtuxet River Bridge and onto Broad Street up Cranston.

“When you move a Torah, you’re supposed to hold it close to keep it safe,” Bessoff explained.

Traffic halted to let the procession pass in the blazing heat. Onlookers shot photos as the parade of 30-plus members of Or Chadash and Trinity Episcopal marched through the village, as a light breeze blew under overcast skies. The group passed restaurants, ice cream shops and a liquor store as it made its way.

More here-

http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20170611/cranston-episcopal-church-welcomes-jewish-congregation-into-its-home

Church Event in UP Disrupted By Police After Hindu Yuva Vahini Alleges ‘Conversions’

From The Wire-

Police stopped a church event attended by more than 150 people, including ten American tourists, in Maharajganj, Uttar Pradesh after the right-wing organisation Hindu Yuva Vahini alleged that religious conversion was being carried out.

The event was stopped after the youth brigade, set up in 2002 by Yogi Adityanath, now the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, filed a complaint against Yohannan Adam, the pastor of the church, accusing him of converting Hindus to Christianity, a charge the pastor denied.

SHO, Dathauli, Anand Kumar Gupta said no prior permission was taken for the meeting, which was held ahead of Good Friday.

“We stopped the prayer meeting after a complaint was registered. A probe is underway and appropriate action will be taken if the charges are found to be correct,” he said.

More here-

https://thewire.in/122446/hindu-yuva-vahini-church-disruption/

Sir Mark Tully: The Christian who believes in karma

From The London Telegraph-

Most mornings, Sir Mark Tully, the celebrated veteran BBC India correspondent and still one of Britain’s favourite broadcasters, can be seen walking his two Labradors in New Delhi’s ancient Lodhi Gardens. Cane in hand, dressed in crisp, white kurta pyjamas, he is every inch the English gentleman journalist who has given his heart to his adoptive country.

He is known, affectionately and respectfully, as “Tullysahib”. The epithet reflects not only admiration for his 46 years spent reporting from the sub-continent, from the assassinations of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi and the Bhopal gas disaster to the destruction of the Babri mosque by Hindu nationalists at Ayodhya, but also recognition that time has given an Indian accent to certain words, and a Hindustani aspect to some gestures.

However much of him India has claimed, he has always clung resolutely to his Christian faith, as devoted to the Anglican Church today as he was as a schoolboy at Marlborough, a theology student at Cambridge, and at Lincoln Theology College, where he once hoped to become a priest. He remains a regular worshipper at Cathedral Church of the Redemption in the Indian capital.

Yet now, at the age of 76, Sir Mark appears to have embarked on a spiritual journey that few of his fellow worshippers there, and almost one million devoted listeners of his Sunday evening programme Something Understood on BBC Radio 4, would consider recognisably Christian: he has accepted the eastern religious ideas of karma and reincarnation.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/8931394/Sir-Mark-Tully-The-Christian-who-believes-in-karma.html

Anglican-Hindu dialogue being hosted by Archbishop of Canterbury in Bangalore

From India-

Renowned Hindu statesman Rajan Zed has welcomed hosting of dialogue by Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Douglas Williams with five Hindu swamis (ascetics) in Bangalore (India) on October 20, "to engage in discussions for mutual understanding".

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, said that serious and honest interfaith dialogue was the need of the hour. Religion was the most powerful, complex and far-reaching force in our society, so we must take it seriously. And we all knew that religion comprised much more than our own particular tradition/experience, Zed stressed.

Rajan Zed further says that in our shared pursuit for the truth, we can learn from one another and thus can arrive nearer to the truth. The dialogue may help us vanquish the stereotypes, prejudices, caricatures, etc., passed on to us from previous generations. As dialogue brings us reciprocal enrichment, we shall be spiritually richer than before the contact.

To be held at Whitefield Ecumenical Centre, participants besides Williams include: Tridandi Srimannarayana Ramanuja Chinna Jeeyar (Hyderabad), Sugunendra Theertha (Udupi), Harshanand (Bangalore), Shivamurthy Shivachary, Paramananda Bharati (Sringeri Math), and Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad (United Kingdom).

More here-

http://sify.com/news/anglican-hindu-dialogue-being-hosted-by-archbishop-of-canterbury-in-bangalore-news-international-kknq4ifjbai.html

Anglican-Hindu dialogue being hosted by Archbishop of Canterbury in India

From India-

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Douglas Williams is hosting a dialogue with five Hindu swamis (ascetics) in Bangalore (India) on October 20. The aim is to “to engage in discussions for mutual understanding.”

The event is to be held at Whitefield Ecumenical Centre. The five Swamis are Tridandi Srimannarayana Ramanuja Chinna Jeeyar (Hyderabad), Sugunendra Theertha (Udupi), Harshanand (Bangalore), Shivamurthy Shivachary, Paramananda Bharati (Sringeri Math), Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad (United Kingdom).

The event has two sessions titled “Visions of the Divine” and “Social Harmony.” It will be will be followed by public question-answer session, totaling dialogue about three and a half hours. “The Swamis and the Archbishop will discuss the social values central to their respective traditions and ask how a pluralist society can encourage and protect true freedom of belief”, according to a release by Kate Wharton from Lambeth Palace in London.

Rajan Zed, the President of Universal Society of Hinduism says “The dialogue may help us vanquish the stereotypes, prejudices, caricatures, etc., passed on to us from previous generations. As dialogue brings us reciprocal enrichment, we shall be spiritually richer than before the contact.”

More here-

http://frontierindia.net/anglican-hindu-dialogue-being-hosted-by-archbishop-of-canterbury-in-india

Anglican head to visit Hindu temple in England

LONDON (ICNS): In a gesture of peace and love the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has decided to visit a Hindu temple in central England.

Archbishop Williams, who is also the head of the Church of England is to visit the Shri Venkateswara (Balaji) temple Nov. 15. Archbishop Williams said he accepted invitation of the trustees of the temple, Europe's largest Hindu place of worship, as a sign of the "celebration of friendship and the facing of challenges with hope".

The “friendship move” assumes significance in Britain as it comes after a series of anti-Christian violence in Orissa.

The Archbishop had written to the Hindus in Britain in his Diwali greetings, urging them to work for "reconciliation where there has been division and hurt" and for "peace and the rejection of all resort to violence.”

Archbishop Williams will also plant an olive tree, a symbol of peace, - on the temple hill. The temple spreads over 22 acres in the suburbs of the city of Birmingham in west-central England. Its Authorities said the visit will reinforce the temple's multi-faith approach.

http://www.theindiancatholic.com/report.asp?nid=11677