Churches in India are today closing around 30,000 of their educational institutions across the country to protest against continuing attacks by mobs of Hindu militants in the country's eastern state of Orissa.

A Hindu woman living in India has produced a 900-page poetic epic on the life and message of Jesus following the style of such Hindu classics as Mahabharat and Ramayan. It has been written in Kannada.

Officials in the Indian state of Orissa have imposed a curfew in the Kandhamal district and appealed for calm after clashes involving Hindu nationalists and the minority Christian community.

Young Christians have been meeting near Katmandu in Nepal, a country emerging towards democracy and pluralism. Many are now attracted to Christianity in the predominantly Hindu kingdom which now has a formally secular state.

According to Indian government documents, Christians account for less than 10 percent of the population of the southern Karnataka state. But the proportion may be much higher because of the impact of caste and categorisation, research shows.

The Vatican has sent a message urging cooperation between Christians and Hindus in anticipation of their celebration of Diwali on 9 November. Shared by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs across the world as the 'Festival of Light,' Diwali marks the triumph of life over death.

Despite India remaining the world's most populous and vibrant democracy, freedom of religion is in decline and plural secularism threatened, says a journalist-turned-Christian activist who is now secretary general of the All India Christian Council.

The funeral of a Sri Lankan Roman Catholic priest tragically killed by a mine blast as he was on his way to distribute supplies to displaced people, has attracted more than 5,000 mourners including Hindus and Muslims.

Anil Bhanot, the general secretary of the Hindu Council UK (HCUK), has written to the main leaders of all faiths in Britain to express his growing concern at divisive elements between religions, urging them to root out and stand against intolerance and religious dogma.

After two churches banned yoga classes, causing comment and puzzlement in the United Kingdom, a Catholic priest and school principal in India has declared that British clergy who describe yoga as a “sham,” a “false philosophy” and “un-Christian” are uninformed about the practice.