U.S. Capitol Lights Up For First Divali Festival

HAPPY DIWALI AND SAAL MUBARAK TO BARACK AND MICHELLE OBAMA FROM ALL OF US, COURTSEY JAINA

Over two dozen influential lawmakers along with eminent Indian-Americans gathered at the Capitol Hill to lit the traditional "diyas".

continue reading:  US lawmakers celebrate Diwali

The Significance of Diwali, Auroville Universal Township:

'The Diwali or Deepavali festival marks the victory of good over evil. The Sanskrit word “Deepavali” means “an array of lights” and signifies the victory of brightness over darkness. As the knowledge of Sanskrit diminished, the name was popularly modified to Diwali, especially in northern India...' continue reading

See: Vidoes: National Geographic, PBS 

On the same shelf, see books on the Subject:

• MESSAGE OF THE PONTIFICAL COUNCIL  FOR INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE  TO THE HINDUS  ON THE FEAST OF DIWALI  (27 OCTOBER 2000) -- Extract: 

  It is Pope John Paul II who, during his last journey to India, reminded us once again that the “Catholic Church wants to enter ever more deeply into dialogue with the religions of the world. She sees dialogue as an act of love which has its roots in God himself. ‘God is love’, proclaims the New Testament, ‘and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him…Let us love, then, because he has loved us first…no one who fails to love the brother whom he sees can love God whom he has not seen’ (First Letter of St. John, 4:16, 19-20)” [Meeting at Vigyan Bhavan with Representatives of Other Religions and Christian Confessions, 7th November 1999]. -- A correction of the media (Pope John Paul II's forehead marked with a tilak by Hindu Priestess) reports' "The Mark of Shiva - For Sean O'Lachtnáin's Home Page"

• DIWALI! (Amma, Tell Me About)  Bhakti Mathur
• Lighting a Lamp: A Diwali Story (Festival Time)  Jonny Zucke
• Diwali: A Cultural Adventure   Sana Sood
• Diwali (Rookie Read-About Holidays)  Trudi Strain Trueit
• Holidays Around the World: Celebrate Diwali: With Sweets, Lights, and Fireworks  Deborah Heiligman
• Story of Divaali  Verma Jatinder
• Diwali (Acorn: Holidays and Festivals)  Nancy Dickmann
• Diwali (Celebrations in My World)  Kate Torpie
• Divali Rose  Vashanti Rahaman
• Divali (Why Is This Festival Special)  Jillian Powell
• Festival of Light ; Deepavali Legends from Around India Radhika Sekar
• Dipavali  Siddhinathananda
• Dipavali: Lekhanannal  Kuttippula Krsnapilla

More from Library of Cogress: Divali. /	Divali --Juvenile literature. / Holidays. Fasts and feasts --Hinduism.   / Hinduism --Customs and practices. /  /

Not all Buddhists are Atheists!!!

Q. According to Buddhism, Lord Buddha is not a god and Buddhism in its thought and practices teaches nothing about which many theists considered a god. Then would one classify all Buddhists as atheists? One may say because there are different types of Buddhism, and hence there are different ways to experience the philosophy; wherein some may have belief in the Unseen; etc..

A message board has an interesting point for reflection:

Um...

Buddhism is not atheistic by any standard...

This shows a misunderstanding of different types of Buddhism and attempts to take the fact that Theravada Buddhism (my particular type) does not center itself on a belief in a Deity and make that into "All Buddhists are Atheist", which is untrue. Theravada Buddhism doesn't deny a Deity any more than it promotes one, nor does it state that one should not believe in a Deity. Theravada Buddhism centers itself on this lifetime and the spiritual growth of your current incarnation. Not all Buddhists even believe in reincarnation, not all Buddhists are atheists, there are many different beliefs held by those that are Buddhist. Most believe that all living things are part of the Deity, that which gives us life and unites us is the part of us which is the smallest part of the Deity.

Mahayana Buddhists believe in a Central Deity, so do Shin Buddhists (a Japanese form of Buddhism that believes in Amida Buddha, the Great Compassion, as a central Deity), Tibetan Buddhists believe in much that I have still to understand, but they are more mystical than the type of Buddhism that I study. Source

Books on the subject:

• Is The Buddhist An Atheist?  Theosophical Publishing Society 
• Buddhists and Christians: Through Comparative Theology to Solidarity (Faith Meets Faith Series) James L. Fredericks
• Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian  Paul F. Knitter
• Universal Prayer - Seeking Enlightenment through Prayer in the Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim Traditions Bert Nemcik 
• The Gods of Northern Buddhism: Their History and Iconography  Alice Getty
• Short Description of Gods, Goddesses and Ritual Objects of Buddhism and Hinduism in Nepal  Jnan Bahadur Sakya
• Religion without God  Ronald Dworkin

• The Life Changing Lessons Of Buddha - Buddhism Secrets To Spiritual Enlightenment And Happiness (Buddhism For Beginners, Buddhism Without Beliefs, Buddhism For Busy People)  Steven Nash

• History of Zen from A to Z - Including the Meaning of Life, Creation of Heaven, Hell, Humans and Earth...  Richard Del Connor
• Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening  
  
  

Some other answers may be here:

• If There's No God in Buddhism, Are Buddhists Atheists? BY: Lama Surya Das -- Beliefnet  columnist explains why not. 
• Is the Dalai Lama an Atheist? - Buddhism - About.com
• Buddhism: The last honest religion? Entertaining Q&A with Dalai Lama
• by YourBrainOnReligion
• Buddhism Isn't More Enlightened Than Other Faiths - Patheos  
• Opinion | Are Buddhists atheists? - "NO'ing" Buddha
• Do Buddhists Believe in God? - Urban Dharma
• Dharma Wheel • View topic - Is Buddhism elitist?
• Gods of Buddhism? Learn Why There is No Such Thing
• Dalai Lama reaches out to British atheists - USATODAY.com
• The Buddhist Blog: Buddhism and Atheism
• Asian Buddhists are not atheists - Discover Magazine Blogs
• The new Buddhist atheism | Mark Vernon | Comment is free ...
• BBC - Religion - Atheism: Atheist Buddhism - Atheist Buddhism
• Opinion | Are Buddhists atheists? - The Buddhist Channel
• Rationally Speaking: The problem with atheism, a Buddhist ...
• Buddhism as an "Atheistic Religion": a Western Fantasy
• What Buddhists Believe - Is Buddhism Atheistic?
• Is Buddhism Atheistic?...A brief discussion at religionfacts.com, concludes:

In view of the above factors, scholars and Buddhists alike tend to describe Buddhism as atheistic in the sense that it denies an eternal creator God {7}, while recognizing its theistic and devotional elements. The Encyclopedia Britannica explains,

While the contemplative elite may deny the real existence of gods and demons together with the rest of phenomenal existence, the majority of Buddhists from the earliest times in India, and in other countries where Buddhism has spread, have never neglected indigenous religious beliefs. {8}

Reading now: Fifty Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True

50 Popular Beliefs That People Think Are True Guy P. Harrison

Review:

"Prometheus, the premiere publisher of skeptical literature, here issues a book that deserves to be shelved alongside the works of such giants of the field as [James] Randi, [Michael] Shermer, [Paul] Kurtz, and [Joe]Nickell. With a combination of lively prose and keen analytical reasoning, the author examines some of contemporary culture's most commonly held beliefs… A valuable, not to mention very entertainingly written, addition to the literature of skepticism." - Booklist starred review

On the same shelf:

• Maybe Reading Fiction Makes You a Better Person
• How Reading Fiction Can Improve Your Social Skills
• Michael Shermer » james randi
• King of the Paranormal - CSI  
• Book Review: Science Friction

Faith and Fashion - A select list

• WHY IS THE KHALEEJI HIJAB SO CONTROVERSIAL? Vice.com
•  When are costumes inappropriate? tanenbaum.org
• NUN'S WORK HAD A BIG IMPACT ON THE world of fashion... Sister Aloyse Hessburg helped start the fashion program at Mount Mary University... Cardinal rule her students had to follow, stylelist.com   
• T shirt Design for Interfaith Org. by Amira8 on deviantART
• 'I Heart Turbans': Sikh Student's Apparel Designs Spark Interfaith Dialogue at Parliament of the World's Religions: by Arezou Rezvani, from the Times of India
• Celebration of Believing Women - Interfaith Fashion Show
• Faith and Fashion – A new language for women’s interfaith dialogue, By Jennifer Mayo-Deman, Religious Literacy Leadership in Higher Education
• Fashioned to Reign: Empowering Women to Fulfill Their Divine Destiny   Kris Vallotton
• Religion, Dress and the Body (Dress, Body, Culture) Gabriella Lazaridis
• Moral Problems In Fashion Design: An Address Of Pope Pius XII - Di Gran Cuore Pope Pius XII
• Fashion and Age: Dress, the Body and Later Life Julia Twigg
• Mehndi: Body Painting (Book Only) Zaynab Mirza 
• Masks, Transformation, and Paradox A. David Napier
• Islamic Fashion and Anti-Fashion: New Perspectives from Europe and North America Annelies Moors
• Abaya (Burka/Burqa) - Islamic Clothing : Understanding Abaya, Islamic Clothing, Modest Clothing and Muslim Clothing HilalPlaza.com
• Hijab Fashion for Modern Women Lutfiah Ibrahim Saleh
• Islamic Fahion (Pepin Fashion, Textiles & Patterns) Pepin van Roojen 
• The Veil Unveiled FAEGHEH SHIRAZI

Extract from a Review: "In Assyrian, Greco-Roman, and Byzantine empires veiling was a mark of prestige and status. The author, Faegheh Shirazi, who is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, specializes in textiles and material cultures studies. She shows, through a series of a half dozen chapters, the immense versatility of meaning that the veil can have, depending on the context of its use. In Iranian cinema, for example, its use means adhering to the strictures of Islam, which forbids the erotic, whereas in Indian cinema it's meant to be titillating and erotic. In a chapter entitled "Veiled Images in American Erotica," cartoons from the pages of "Playboy," "Penthouse," and "Hustler" are examined. A chapter on advertising shows how the veil is used to sell automobiles, perfume, cigarettes, computers, and sanitary napkins, among dozens of other products. There are chapters covering military, political, and literary aspects as well as film. In Muslim cultures the veil is used to prevent "fitna," defined as the chaos caused by women's sexuality. If this is true, then the case might be made that a good part of the world is in total chaos. Regardless of your viewpoint, the book is thought provoking for anyone interested in human beings and culture. " If You're Curious About Why Women Wear Veils, By Ken T Barnett on August 23, 2001 @ Amazon.com

• The Faces of Faith: Amarillo Magazine survey reveals religious ...

• Fearless … and topless: Femen activists to bring 'sextremism' to the ... The Guardian-

• Parsons The New School for Design Sweeps Amazon Fashion ...

• Modern Fashion Meets Ancient Religion in Jewish Museum

• Fashion And Religion - the Fashion Spot

• Fashion's New Religion - New York Times

• 21 Controversial Blendings of Fashion with Religion 

• When Fashion Meets Religion: Three Examples

New on the shelf: The Illusion of an Islamic State, A select reading list

• The Illusion of an Islamic State: How an Alliance of Moderates Launched a Successful Jihad Against Radicalization... by Syafii Maarif, Mustofa Bisri, Hodri Ariev and Ratno Lukito (2011)   [English Excerpts from the Book]    

Review extracts @ Amazon:


• There are very few books that can be called "the book". Undoubtedly "The Illusion of an Islamic State" is one of them." --New Europe, Dionyssios Kefalakos

•  "[O]ne of the rare success stories of an initiative in which moderate and liberal Muslims" --Democracy Digest

• ". . . a single book with a powerful message had a huge political impact in the largest Muslim-majority democracy in the world. If it can work in Indonesia, why not in the rest of the world?" --Washington Post, Jennifer Rubin

•  "A path-breaking new report by the LibForAll Foundation" --Wall Street Journal, Sadanand Dhume

• Twenty Three Years: A Study of the Prophetic Career of Mohammad Ali Dashti
• The Impossible State: Islam, Politics, and Modernity's Moral Predicament 
  Wael B. Hallaq
• Modern Islamic Thought in a Radical Age: Religious Authority and Internal Criticism 
  Muhammad Qasim Zaman
• Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic lllusion of an Islamic State Tarek Fatah
• Inside Al-Qaeda and the Taliban: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11 Syed Saleem Shahzad
• A Battle for the Soul of Islam: An American Muslim Patriot's Fight to Save His Faith Ph.D. M. Zuhdi Jasser
• The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State: (New in Paper) by Noah Feldman

  About the book:
  Perhaps no other Western writer has more deeply probed the bitter struggle in the Muslim world between the forces of religion and law and those of violence and lawlessness as Noah Feldman. His scholarship has defined the stakes in the Middle East today. Now, in this incisive book, Feldman tells the story behind the increasingly popular call for the establishment of the shari'a--the law of the traditional Islamic state--in the modern Muslim world.
  Western powers call it a threat to democracy. Islamist movements are winning elections on it. Terrorists use it to justify their crimes. What, then, is the shari'a? Given the severity of some of its provisions, why is it popular among Muslims? Can the Islamic state succeed--should it? Feldman reveals how the classical Islamic constitution governed through and was legitimated by law. He shows how executive power was balanced by the scholars who interpreted and administered the shari'a, and how this balance of power was finally destroyed by the tragically incomplete reforms of the modern era. The result has been the unchecked executive dominance that now distorts politics in so many Muslim states. Feldman argues that a modern Islamic state could provide political and legal justice to today's Muslims, but only if new institutions emerge that restore this constitutional balance of power.
  The Fall and Rise of the Islamic State gives us the sweeping history of the traditional Islamic constitution--its noble beginnings, its downfall, and the renewed promise it could hold for Muslims and Westerners alike. In a new introduction, Feldman discusses developments in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and other Muslim-majority countries since the Arab Spring and describes how Islamists must meet the challenge of balance if the new Islamic states are to succeed.

• Who Needs an Islamic State? We Do!: A Critical Review of the book by Abdelwahab El-Affendi: Who needs an Islamic State? Ian Nisbet
• The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State (Warfare and History)
  Hugh Kennedy
• Mawlana Mawdudi and Political Islam: Authority and the Islamic state Roy Jackson
• Media, Culture and Society in Iran: Living with Globalization and the Islamic State (Iranian Studies)
  Mehdi Semati
• Discourse on Islamic Political Thought Lukman Thaib
• Reversal of Islamization in Pakistan Hussain Khan M. A. Tokyo
• The Islamic Law of Nations: Shaybani's Siyar Majid Khadduri
• Islamic Theology and Philosophy: Studies in Honor of George F. Hourani Michael E. Marmura
• Superstition as Ideology in Iranian Politics: From Majlesi to Ahmadinejad (Cambridge Middle East Studies)  Ali Rahnema
• Broken Promises: The Failure of Constitutional Monrachy in Bahrain Omar F. Ahmed
• A Most Masculine State: Gender, Politics and Religion in Saudi Arabia (Cambridge Middle East Studies) Madawi Al-Rasheed
• Awakening Islam: The Politics of Religious Dissent in Contemporary Saudi Arabia Stéphane Lacroix
• The Failure of Political Islam Olivier Roy
• The Limits of Faith: The Failure of Faith-based Religions and the Solution to the Meaning of Life Muata Ashby
• Pakistan's Blasphemy Laws: From Islamic Empires to the Taliban
  Shemeem Burney Abba
• Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes Tamim Ansary
• The Islamic Threat : Myth or Reality? (Third Edition) John L. Esposito
• Great Divide: Failure of Islam and Triumph of the West Alvin J. Schmidt
• The Islamic Utopia: The Illusion of Reform in Saudi Arabia Andrew Hammond
• Islam Without Illusions: Its Past, Its Present, and Its Challenge for the Future (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East) Ed Hotaling
• Fatal Faultlines: Pakistan, Islam and the West Irfan Husain
• Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari`a Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na`im