About 200,000 people attended a rally in downtown Seoul, South Korea, yesterday — right in front of its City Hall.

They were protesting the religious bias they accuse the government of holding against Buddhists. Read my original article about the Jogye Order, the denomination leading the protest.

Among the 200,000 people, police estimated 60,000 of them were Buddhists (including 7,000 monks).

They issued a resolution asking the president (Lee Myung-bak) to take notice of religious bias, to stop religious discrimination, and to unify the nation.

Read more about the South Korean Buddhist protest on BuddhistChannel.tv.

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The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has released the results of two of its recent surveys.

Do you believe in hell?

According to this survey, only 59% of 35,000 respondents said they believe in the type of hell “where people who have led bad lives, and die without being sorry, are eternally punished.”

That number is down, says Religion News Service.  In a 2001 Gallup survey, 71% said they believe in hell as a physical place.

Do you think churches should be involved in politics?

According to the Pew Forum’s (based on their recent survey):

A slim majority of the public (52%) says that churches and other houses of worship should keep out of politics, an eight point increase compared with 2004. Fewer (45%) take the view that churches should express their views on day-to-day social and political questions. This marks the first time since the Pew Research Center began asking the question in 1996 that those who say churches should keep out of politics outnumber those who say churches should express their political views.

Perhaps more surprising, 50% of conservatives say churches should stay out of politics — up from 30% in 2004.

Find more survey data about churches and politics on the Pew Forum Web site. 

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PETA is asking for a New York state investigation into kapparot, a ritual performed by some Jews before Yom Kippur.

It involves swinging a live chicken over one’s head, then slaughtering it.

The idea is that, since the Hebrew word “gever” means both “man” and “bird,” a bird can substitute for a man. Thus, during the ceremony, some Jews believe they can transfer their sins to the bird, which is then slaughtered. The meat is then given to the poor.

Some Jews oppose the ritual, claiming there would be no need for a Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) if a bird could take your sins away.

But animal rights group PETA is opposed for another reason.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) charges that thousands of chickens were thrown away in the trash last year following the ritual in Brooklyn. Such dumping is a violation of Jewish law and animal rights, and puts a burden on sanitation workers, PETA says.

Learn more about PETA’s letter and the rabbis response.

Do you practice kapparot? What do you think of PETA’s response? Leave your comments.

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The letters represented in a tetragrammaton, YHWH, are the four consonants of the ancient Hebrew name for God Himself.

It is Jewish practice to never pronounce the four-letter name of God. And according to the Vatican, early Christians did not pronounce the four-letter name either.

But as time went on, Christians adopted various names for God. Large groups of Christians made something of the four letters – the name “Yahweh.” Others refrained from translating the letters and used translations of “Lord” (Adonai, Kyrios, and so on).

In June, the Vatican announced it will return to tradition and stop pronouncing the name of God. The change is now in effect. While this change won’t affect official liturgy, it will mean several songs and texts will need to remove the name – perhaps replacing it with Adonai.

Refraining from pronouncing God’s name is, according to the Vatican, an “expression of the infinite greatness and majesty of God.”

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