Religious Pluralism

This week I read an article that focused on a Hindu festival, Janmashtami, at a temple in Virginia that involved a lot of singing and dancing. The purpose of the festival is to celebrate Krishna's birth and can be viewed as a celebration close to Christmas and the birth of Christ. There are many similarities between the birth of Krishna and the birth of Jesus and for Hindus, Krishna is a central figure in their religion b/c he is the reincarnation of Vishnu, the preserver. Many of the tenents of Hinduism parallel those embraced by Christians and I was able to compare the ritual of ardi and the handing out of prasad to the cleansing associated with baptism and the symbolism surrounding the Eucharist. Is a religious ceremony like this detrimental to a religiously pluralistic society that exists in the United States? I don't think so. The article was written by a member of the Hindu community who describes the festival as cleansing because it reminded her of God's love and walking a path of righteousness. Her experience can be compared to one a Catholic, like myself, seeks by attending a religious retreat or going to mass.
Recently in my developmental biology class I also came across an article in our bioethics textbook that discussed Hinduism and described the religion as one that is founded on nonviolence. In the religious spirit, Hindus believe that abortion is an act of violence that leads to one obtaining bad karma and therefore stuck forever in the cycle of reincarnation, without hope of achieving enlightenment. Abortion is a very sticky subject in politics within the United States because it addresses many conflicting beliefs, such as when human life begins and if a mother has the right to kill her unborn child in order to save her own life. One question I pose is: What are our moral obligations for regulating behavior within a religiously pluralistic society? How are these determined?