Nov 1, 2025 12:44 AM
https://religionnews.com/2025/10/31/in-v...ided-world
EXCERPT: As he tied a sacred thread to King Charles III’s wrist, the head monk of London’s BAPS Swaminarayan temple blessed the string as “a string of friendship… to ensure our bonds remain ever sweet.” The gesture marked Charles’ first visit as monarch to the historic Hindu temple, continuing a decadeslong relationship as Britain debates immigration, religious diversity and national identity with increasing intensity.
With its intricately carved limestone and gleaming marble, the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir is widely recognized as the first traditional Hindu stone temple built in the Western world. The king’s fifth visit to the mandir, commonly known as the Neasden Temple for its neighborhood in northwest London, marked the mandir’s 30th anniversary.
[...] The King has spoken of a sovereign’s duty to protect the country’s diversity, including the space for faith and its practice, within what he has described as the United Kingdom’s identity as a “community of communities.” His Christian convictions, he has said, bind him to those who follow other spiritual paths, as well as those who live by secular ideals. In an era when leaders are increasingly scrutinized for either safeguarding or undermining religious freedoms, such visits take on added resonance; what leaders signal through their presence, or diminish through their absence, affects the possibilities for pluralism.
As connections are increasingly mediated by screens and scrolling, distance can breed assumptions, reducing people to categories and flattening their complexity. Charles’ visit demonstrates that showing up still matters, especially in places that hold sacred meaning for their communities. Hearing from the crowd, observing non-verbal cues and listening to the candid conversations in the video coverage, one notices how much is conveyed by physical presence... (MORE - missing details)
https://youtu.be/HV17-R2gTWU
EXCERPT: As he tied a sacred thread to King Charles III’s wrist, the head monk of London’s BAPS Swaminarayan temple blessed the string as “a string of friendship… to ensure our bonds remain ever sweet.” The gesture marked Charles’ first visit as monarch to the historic Hindu temple, continuing a decadeslong relationship as Britain debates immigration, religious diversity and national identity with increasing intensity.
With its intricately carved limestone and gleaming marble, the BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir is widely recognized as the first traditional Hindu stone temple built in the Western world. The king’s fifth visit to the mandir, commonly known as the Neasden Temple for its neighborhood in northwest London, marked the mandir’s 30th anniversary.
[...] The King has spoken of a sovereign’s duty to protect the country’s diversity, including the space for faith and its practice, within what he has described as the United Kingdom’s identity as a “community of communities.” His Christian convictions, he has said, bind him to those who follow other spiritual paths, as well as those who live by secular ideals. In an era when leaders are increasingly scrutinized for either safeguarding or undermining religious freedoms, such visits take on added resonance; what leaders signal through their presence, or diminish through their absence, affects the possibilities for pluralism.
As connections are increasingly mediated by screens and scrolling, distance can breed assumptions, reducing people to categories and flattening their complexity. Charles’ visit demonstrates that showing up still matters, especially in places that hold sacred meaning for their communities. Hearing from the crowd, observing non-verbal cues and listening to the candid conversations in the video coverage, one notices how much is conveyed by physical presence... (MORE - missing details)
https://youtu.be/HV17-R2gTWU