Religion

By Dr. Alex Kharazi. For all of us and indeed for all Americans and people of good conscience around the world, 9/11 evokes memories of a moment in our history when the world as we knew it changed forever. We will come together as one community on Sunday, September 11 at 5:30 p.m. at Masjid-e-Ali, located at 47 Cedar Grove …

The New Jersey Buddhist Vihara Meditation Center on Route 27 held a day-long “birthday party” of sorts on Aug. 20. The “birthday boy” was the center’s 30-foot-tall Buddha statue, and the party was to commemorate the seventh anniversary of its installation.

A township church is helping a Zarephath-based radio station to create a temporary Sept. 11 memorial. Somerset Presbyterian Church, 100 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, is serving as a collection point for Star 99.1’s “Empty Shoe Memorial.” The station is collecting 2,996 pairs of shoes, one for every person who was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, as a …

Franklin Township police officers and members of two church congregations went door-to-door in one neighborhood Aug. 12. The goal of the walk through the Parkside neighborhood, according to its organizers, was to help the community and the officers get to know each other.

Religious leaders, township officials and the police department’s top brass met July 11 in the Community/Senior Center to call for unity and peace in the wake of killings in Minnesota, Louisiana and Dallas, Texas. “We stand here today collectively to work in the community to make sure everybody has somebody and to make sure the police department knows that we …

More than 50 people gathered in the courtyard of the Masjid-e-Ali Mosque June 30 to hold a candlelight vigil in remembrance of those killed by terrorists. The event was sparked by the June 28 attack at Istanbul Ataturk Airport in Turkey, in which 44 people were killed and about 240 injured.

Messages of peace, compassion and following what one’s heart knows to be right were delivered by several speakers June 18 at the sixth annual Interfaith/Iftar Dinner hosted by Masjid-e-Ali mosque on Cedar Grove Lane. The mosque holds the dinner each year during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

By Rizwan Rizvi. June seventh will mark the beginning of 9th Lunar month in the Islamic Calendar known as Ramaḍān, although some Muslims consider June 6th to be the beginning of the month. It is the month when Muslims worldwide embark on a month-long fasting journey to spiritually connect them with their Lord. It is stated in the Holy Qurʾān: …

The Srivari Sri Balaji Temple on Elizabeth Avenue was formally initiated in a May 29 ceremony. The ceremony was the capstone of a three-day outdoor festival held by the temple.

A three-day festival – which will include the naming of a new main deity – is planned for later this month by the Srivari Sri Balaji Temple on Elizabeth Avenue. The Grand Prana Pratishtapana festival, the first for this year-old Hindu temple, will be held outdoors on its 6-acre campus from May 27-29. The festival will be held from roughly …