Steve over at the Obama Today blog writes that President Obama is the first president to light a ceremonial Diya at the White House to mark the observance of Diwali.

You can check out the video of Obama’s Diwali wishes.

Join us later today when Anju Bhargava, senior vice president at Bank of America and a member on President Obama’s Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships answers questions about celbrating Diwali in the United States.

President Obama speaks at Cairo University June 4.

Marking the end of Ramadan and the beginning of Eid-ul-Fitr, Obama extended his congratulations to Muslims around the world. He also said he is working to ensure that Muslims are able to fulfill their charitable obligations, known as zakat. It is one of the pillars of Islam.

During Eid, “Muslims remember those less fortunate, including those impacted by poverty, hunger, conflict, and disease. Throughout the month, Muslim communities collect and distribute zakat-ul-fitr so that all Muslims are able to participate in this day of celebration,” he said. “As I said in Cairo, my Administration is working to ensure that Muslims are able to fulfill their charitable obligations not just during Ramadan, but throughout the year.” A transcript of the President’s speech in Cairo in several languages is available here.

The full statement is available on the White House Web site.

Michelle over at Obama Today sent me this uplifting article from our hometown newspaper about an interesting arrangement between a local Mosque and Synagogue.

Due to the growing population of Muslims in the area, there’s a need for more space for them to worship, especially during the very busy time of Ramadan. A synagogue opened their doors. From the article:

“The men roll out long prayer rugs on the synagogue floor. An imam stands up front and praises Allah. And as the faithful begin whispering their prayers in flowing Arabic, their landlord, a rabbi, walks by to check whether they need anything.”

“The prophet Isaiah said our houses would be houses of prayer for all people,” said Rabbi Robert Nosanchuk. “Now, I don’t know if Isaiah could have imagined us hosting Ramadan in the synagogue, but the basic idea is there.”

Do you think this type of interfaith sharing is the norm or just an isolated incident?

Check out the cool photo gallery.

One Singaporian blogger is Proud of Singapore’s Diversity. That story reminded me of America.gov’s look at One New York City Neighborhood.

How many houses of worship are in your neighborhood? How are they different? How are they the same?

Religion is a tricky subject. In fact, I try to avoid discussing it whenever possible (funny that I’m now writing a public blog post on the topic). While I’m more than happy to argue politics, I often shy away from arguing theology. Why? Religious beliefs are so much more personal than political beliefs. It’s easier to step on someone’s toes if you question their religion than if you question who they voted for.

David Plotz and Robert Wright, however, were quite calm when they discussed Wright’s book The Evolution of God at a New America Foundation event in Washington, DC. Plotz, editor at Slate and author of Good Book: The Bizarre, Hilarious, Disturbing, Marvelous, and Inspiring Things I Learned When I Read Every Single Word of the Bible, provided humorous insights while questioning Wright. Wright detailed his argument and fielded questions from the audience in a professional manner. If nothing else, I was impressed with the civility of the discussion.

Wright’s argument focused on what he called “God’s changing moods.” He said that the holy books of Judaism, Christianity and Islam all contain verses that range from belligerent to tolerant. Verses that are emphasized by various religions at any given time depend on the circumstances. As long as the followers of one religion do not feel threatened by another, they will choose to emphasize verses that preach tolerance. As Wright said, when it comes to their own interests, people are quite selective about what verses to emphasize. Most people would find that a very unsettling argument. After all, when it comes to a holy book, what’s written is written, right? And who are we to change its meaning?

I, however, found his comments reassuring. As a relatively new convert to Christianity (just shy of three years), I’m still working my way through the Bible, trying to reconcile seemingly archaic concepts with these modern times. It can be discouraging. I’m a nosy person, and I like having all the answers. I frequently encounter verses that I just don’t understand. Of course, this leads to questions: . Do I read it the verse in the literal sense? Do I look for the meaning behind the symbols? Will I ever know the “correct” way to interpret the Bible? Not having the answers and knowing I may never have them is a bit disconcerting for a person like me.

Wright’s concept of “God’s changing moods”, however, gave me hope. Here was a man that devoted years of research to discuss the concepts of God in Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and it seemed like maybe he didn’t have the final answer either. He concluded that our concepts are fluid. They change as our society changes. Occasionally, these concepts clash when one religion feels threatened by the other. But, he emphasized, all religious are capable of tolerance. We just need to recognize that all ideas of God are manifestations of the same underlying unity.

So maybe we aren’t supposed to have all the answers . Maybe, like Wright says, our interpretations will keep changing, and our ideas will keep evolving. We might think we have an answer but, as we grow and change, so will our beliefs.

That evening, as I left the event and started my trek home, I felt comforted by the idea that I’m not the only one without a final answer. That doesn’t mean I’ll give up searching (where’s the fun in that?). It just means I can rest a bit easier knowing that I have company in this search.

Eboo Patel, who has contributed to this blog, today wrote about Obama’s anticipated speech in Cairo on June 4:

“Obama will be addressing the 930 million Hindus in India, and the 5 million Jews in Israel, and the 38 million Catholics in Spain, and the 500,000 Muslims in his own city of Chicago. Tomorrow, Obama does more than discuss how the United States will relate to the Muslim world. He sets the precedent for how diverse peoples and nations should interact in the 21st century.”

See the full article here.

What do you hope to hear Obama say about faith and religion in his speech tomorrow?

Check out a recent survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life that found 50 percent of American adults have changed religious affiliation at least once during their lives.

America.gov talked to a few people who have changed from one religion to another, and their responses are varied and interesting. One woman raised as Protestant Christian adopted Sufism as an adult.

Do people often change religions in your country? Why or why not?

Guest blogger Becca Hartman received her B.A. from Northwestern University where she studied Philosophy and Religion. Before joining IFYC, she interned with the African Religious Health Assets Program at the University of Cape Town to map the impact of Faith-Based Organizations on the public health needs of Sub-Saharan Africa.

I’m one of those freedom-loving American Baptists. You know, freedom of conscience, freedom to encounter the divine directly, freedom to read scripture and interpret for myself with the appropriate tools, freedom to worship what, when, and as I choose. My sense of this radical freedom is rooted in the boundless love and grace of God and of the Jesus who came to loose us from the many shackles we (willfully or forcefully) sport.

I am also free to envy. I work at the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), a Chicago-based international nonprofit organization that is building a global movement of young leaders committed to the ideal of religious pluralism. That means that I have the good fortune of working with people from different religious and philosophic traditions. It was first in school at Northwestern University, then abroad in South Africa that I really got involved with interfaith work. The beauty of religions’ practices, the depth of their stories, the history of their rituals, the vibrancy of their communities, and the truth in their teachings - they have always captivated me. They are a testament to the abundance of the divine that I seek to follow.

But I admit that since I first encountered religious diversity I have been covetous of my neighbor’s religious practices.

When I studied in Durban, South Africa, I lived with a wonderful, proudly Christian Zulu family. I have rarely felt the spirit in the way that I did in their house church just a couple of doors down, surrounded by singing voices that raised my consciousness to another plane altogether. And next door to ‘our’ home was an older Muslim couple. I had the blessing of living with my host family during Ramadan, which in South Africa is boiling hot with many daylight hours. Every day this family would go to work and return, all the time refraining from food and water. And every evening after sunset, when I caught them at just the right time, hanging clothes in the back of the house, they would offer me fresh veggie samosas to share in the breaking of their fast. As the sun was setting over a massive hillside of RDP government houses, the wind would pick up, and we would flip through pictures of our families together.

The next time I encountered Ramadan so fully was my first year at IFYC. I observed my Muslim colleagues (friends, really) refraining from water and food and ill-thoughts from sun-up to sun-down. Inspired by their devotion and the shared practice among Muslims around the world, I decided that I would focus on this practice and revitalize the tradition of fasting within mystical and some of mainstream Christianity. I decided to fast for Lent last year.

Growing up my family always ‘took on’ something for Lent, a practice that I find meaningful, which is a way of living from a place of abundance. It is with a heart of gratitude that we would take on extra volunteering, vow to acknowledge and thank someone new every day, write a letter to loved ones, etc. This Lent, I wanted a different practice to jolt me from my comfortable ways and to live into a new insight. Yet in my emulation of my Muslim colleagues, I was missing a vital part of the devotional experience. During Ramadan, Muslims break the fast at sundown and celebrate with prayer and a shared meal. In my attempts to ‘go-it-alone’, I was depriving myself of the joy that comes in relationships and communal celebration. Lent didn’t go so well last year.

This year, I am grateful for the participation of many friends at IFYC. Eight of us – varieties of Christians, Muslims and Jews - are taking a day of the week and fasting that day, according to each one’s chosen practice. Together we are fasting throughout Lent, journaling our thoughts and experiences in a collective book, and occasionally breaking the fast together. In the coming weeks, they will share their thoughts with you as well as we each reflect on what this interfaith Lent means to us. Thus far I am simply grateful for this community.

President Barack Obama, in his Inaugural speech January 20, outlined diversity in America this way: “For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth;”

Check out Eboo Patel’s new post “Obama Reaches Out to the Muslim World” for some thoughts on the speech and the prayer service the President attended on January 21 at the Washington National Cathedral. The service included more than 20 clergy representing Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other denominations. Also, for the first time at a post-inauguration prayer service, a woman delivered the sermon.

Guest Blogger

R Gustav Niebuhr

Associate Professor in Religion & the Media at Syracuse University

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R Gustav Niebuhr is Associate Professor in Religion & the Media at Syracuse University in New York. With over a 20-year career in journalism, most recently at the New York Times and, prior to that, at the Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and the Atlanta Journal/Constitution, Niebuhr has established a reputation as a leading writer about American religion.

Earlier today, I received an e-mail from a former student, telling me she would be performing classical South Indian dance in an upcoming student festival. Her plans seemed fully appropriate, as the festival will celebrate Diwali, a major Hindu holiday, organized at my university by the Hindu Student Council.

The announcement got me thinking: What, these days, should we call an American religious holiday? To many people who associate the United States with its largest faith group, the answer’s easy–Christmas. Well, yes, December 25 marks the day Protestants and Roman Catholics celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. But although those groups do, when taken together, make up a solid majority of the American population, Christianity has never been the sole religious identity to be found within America’s spiritual landscape. After all, Jews have been part of the American scene for more than 350 years.

My university (and many other educational institutions, too) shuts down to allow Jewish students to observe Yom Kippur, the 24-hour period of fasting that is the holiest day in Judaism’s calendar. And we recognize Eid ul-Fitr, which concludes the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, a time of dawn-to-dusk fasting that for Muslims forms one of their faith’s Five Pillars, which set it apart from all others. There are students and faculty who celebrate other days vital to their faiths, for example, in Buddhism, Sikhism, Native American traditions.

None of this makes Syracuse unusual. Other educational institutions exist (and other cities, too) in the United States where other traditions are observed, or where there are considerably larger groups to do the celebrating. In each case, there lies an opportunity to feel a connection to a wider community. Protestants and Catholics who celebrate Christmas (along with Orthodox Christians, too, on a somewhat different calendar) know they do so with Christians worldwide. Jews in Syracuse who mark the High Holidays know their counterparts in Europe, Russia, Latin America and Israel are doing the same.

If I needed to be reminded of this, it came earlier this week through a colleague with deep connections to India, who was thinking about Diwali, and, in particular, how people in the Indian state of Bihar might face the challenge of fully celebrating it. Diwali is a multi-day festival involving the kindling of lights to remind celebrants of the victory of good over evil. Because important elements of the festival traditionally take place in the home, my colleague said, she feels a particular concern for the estimated millions rendered homeless in Bihar by massive floods several weeks ago. Based on material she showed me, a relief effort is underway for those families, but one that, like so many, could probably use more help. For my colleague, the imminent arrival of Diwali, here in the United States (now home to at least 1 million Hindus) as well as in Bihar, makes it all the more possible to be conscious of other people’s plight. In the holiday itself lies a global connection.