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Pagan News Beagle: Faithful Friday, February 24 2017

The new U.S. Attorney General attacks secularism. A Hindu Londoner reflects on her spiritual journey. And a look at how China's population has re-embraced religion after decades of impose atheism. It's Faithful Friday, our news segment about faiths and religious communities from around the world. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump's appointment to lead the U.S. Department of Justice, has attracted a lot of controversy for his past actions opposing desegregation and his frequent confrontations with civil rights activists. However, Sessions is not just controversial for his policies and actions on race. He's also said that he believes that "secularists" are unfit to run the the United States government because they "don't believe in truth."

More than seventy years ago, at least six million Jews as well as many others were killed during the Nazi regime's targeted campaign of genocide. In the decades since we've frequently said "never again" only for genocide to happen time and time again. Perhaps then we should be concerned when survivors of the Holocaust become concerned about current events.

Most people wouldn't think of London as a center of Hinduism. But in fact, the capital of the United Kingdom possesses a fairly large South Asian population, including many Hindus. One British Hindu writes for Hinduism Today about what her life has been like as a Hindu at the heart of the former British Empire.

It is a sad day when a religious leader and activist dies. Buddhist magazine Lion's Roar remembers Gelek Rimpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist author and teacher who played a large role in drawing Western attention to the tradition.

Throughout most of its history the People's Republic of China (aka the Communist regime in China or "Red China") has opposed the practice of religion within its borders, viewing faith as the "opiate of the masses" and a relic of imperialism. However, the Chinese people have never truly lost their touch with the spiritual and today religion is a resurgent part of Chinese culture. Foreign Affairs takes a look at religion's big comeback in China.


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Aryós Héngwis (or the more modest Héngwis for short) is a native of the Pontic-Caspian steppe, born some 5000 years ago, near the village of Dereivka. In his youth he stood out from the other snakes for his love of learning and culture, eventually coming into the service of the local reǵs before moving westward toward Europe. Most recently, Aryós Héngwis left his home to pursue a new life in America, where he has come under the employ of BBI Media as an internet watchdog (or watchsnake, if you will), ever poised to strike the unwary troll.

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