Religion News – Newsletter for January 20, 2011

Sikhs with kirpans denied entry to Quebec assembly

TORONTO – The kirpan issue was to the fore once again in Canada Wednesday when four Sikhs were barred from entering the Quebec provincial assembly for carrying a “potential weapon”.

The Bloc Quebecois political party further stoked the issue by seeking outright ban on the kirpan even in the Canadian parliament where two kirpan-wearing Sikh … Original source on Gaea Times at : Sikhs with kirpans denied entry to Quebec assembly.

Malaysian Hindu festival gets Buddhist touch

GEORGE TOWN – Two Malaysian Indian brothers celebrating the Thaipusam festival of the Tamil Hindus carried idols of Buddhist deity Kuan Yin after their ailing mother recovered.

G. Asokumar, 31, and his brother G. Sivakumar, 40, Wednesday carried the idol in a kavadi, a plywood platform, on their shoulders from a Buddhist temple to the … Read more : Malaysian Hindu festival gets Buddhist touch.