Hawaii
Native Hawaiian salt makers combat climate change and pollution to protect a sacred tradition
By Deepa Bharath — January 3, 2024
HANAPEPE, Hawaii (AP) — Over the past decade, this tract has been under constant threat due to development, pollution from a neighboring airfield, sand erosion from vehicle traffic and littering by visitors to the adjacent beach.
A volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island is sacred to spiritual practitioners and treasured by astronomers
By Audrey Mcavoy and Deepa Bharath — December 13, 2023
MAUNA KEA, Hawaii (AP) — Mauna Kea is a dormant 14,000-foot shield volcano. In Native Hawaiian lore, it is the first-born son of the sky father and earth mother.
Pilgrims yearn to visit isolated peninsula where Catholic saints cared for Hawaii’s leprosy patients
By Jennifer Sinco Kelleher — December 4, 2023
KALAUPAPA, Hawaii (AP) — The pilgrimage to Kalaupapa is logistically challenging to make under normal circumstances. It is even more so today because of lingering COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
Pilgrims yearn to visit isolated peninsula where Catholic saints cared for Hawaii’s leprosy patients
By Jennifer Sinco Kelleher — December 1, 2023
KALAUPAPA, Hawaii (AP) — The pilgrimage to Kalaupapa, defined by its natural isolation in northern Molokai, is logistically challenging and restricted under normal circumstances.
How a massive all-granite, hand-carved Hindu temple ended up on Hawaii’s lush Kauai Island
By Deepa Bharath — November 21, 2023
KAPAA, Hawaii (AP) — Less than 1% of Hawaii’s 1.4 million residents are Hindus and on Kauai, the number of Hindus may not even exceed 50, according to some estimates.
Native Hawaiians believe volcanoes are alive and should be treated like people, with distinct rights and responsibilities
By Richard W Stoffle — December 9, 2022
(The Conversation) — The eruption of Mauna Loa is a profound spiritual experience for many Native Hawaiians. An anthropologist explains Native American beliefs on the living Earth and volcanic lava.
Hawaii museum revisits history of gender-fluid healers
By Audrey Mcavoy — July 8, 2022
HONOLULU (AP) — The Bishop Museum exhibit, on display through Oct. 16, displays artifacts like massage sticks and a medicine pounder that healers would have used centuries ago.
Native American leaders push for boarding school commission
By Susan Montoya Bryan — June 23, 2022
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The dark history of Native American boarding schools — where children were prohibited from speaking their languages and often abused — has been felt deeply across Indian Country and through generations.
‘All-in’ Buddhist practice combines meditation and martial arts
By Liz Kineke — June 8, 2021
(RNS) — Athletic types are drawn to Rinzai Zen training's physical demands. They stay for the Japanese flute.
Ram Dass, who introduced a generation to Hindu meditation, dies at 88
By Kimberly Winston — December 23, 2019
(RNS) — Pioneering the use of psychedelic drugs as spiritual practice, he also explored Buddhism and Hinduism, which took him to India and resulted in his 1971 best-selling book ‘Be Here Now.’
In Hawaii, ‘protectors’ fight telescope project with prayer
By Jack Jenkins — September 5, 2019
MAUNA KEA, Hawaii (RNS) — Demonstrators have flocked to this mountain to stop construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope for reasons that are partly environmental and partly religious.
Tulsi Gabbard’s 2020 bid raises questions about Hindu political ties
By Sonia Paul — January 27, 2019
(RNS) — As Gabbard readies to launch her presidential race in early February, her connection to Indian Hindu political leaders is turning out to be one of her biggest obstacles.
How the loss of Native Americans’ languages affects our understanding of their belief
By Rosalyn R. LaPier — October 9, 2018
(The Conversation) — Embedded in indigenous languages is information about their beliefs about the creation and preservation of the environment.
Obama says he is praying for persecuted Christians at Christmas
By Reuters — December 24, 2015
As the Obamas prepare to celebrate Christmas in Hawaii, the president said he and wife Michelle are "ever-mindful" that "many of our fellow Christians do not enjoy that right" to celebrate openly.
New Hawaii law legalizes traditional ‘clean burial’ practice
By Reuters — July 1, 2015
HONOLULU (Reuters) Under a new law in Hawaii, the dead can now be put to rest following an ancient Hawaiian custom called "clean burial" in which only a person's bones are buried.
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