In passing, a worry about the end of state-endorsed religion

The king of Nepal drove his own car as a way of illustrating his willingness to do whatever the people want, according to an article in Time Magazine.

While the entire article was about political changes and history, the writer's choice of this quotation: "This king lost the people's favor," said Ram Shresthra Prasad, a 42-year-old priest at the Pashupatinath Temple, the clamorous shrine to which Gyanendra drove last month.
But "this talk of a secular republic is ignorant," he said. "Our kings created Nepal. They protect our Hindu religion. The kings are the symbol of Nepal," is interesting.

This article, a year old, from the BBC sheds some light on the status of religion in the world's only officially Hindu nation.