Source: The Associated Press

On April 5, 2003 The Associated Press reported that "twenty-nine-year-old Anjum A. Ali has two very distinctive looks - that of an American patriot and that of a Muslim... Dressed in her traditional head garb, the American-born Muslim has struggled to make more traditional citizens understand that she, too, is a patriot... With the help of her friend Neil Kuchinsky, a well-known Jewish lawyer who often serves as an advocate for people of the Jewish religion, and local real estate investor Vince Ferranti, a Christian Italian-...

Source: The Guardian

On April 4, 2003 The Guardian reported that "poised behind the troops, waiting for a signal that Iraq is safe enough for them to operate in, are the evangelical Christians - carrying food in one hand and the Bible in the other... All the groups, generously funded by American churchgoers, are likely to do a magnificent job in offering water, food, medical help and comfort to a traumatised population. But they are causing alarm among Muslims, who fear vulnerable Iraqis will be cajoled into conversion, and Christians, some of whom...

Source: Religion...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On April 3, 2003 the Los Angeles Times reported that "the 91-year-old cross overlooking Ventura is being targeted by a group that contends the city has run afoul of 1st Amendment guarantees against establishment of a state religion... The cross is on public land in Grant Park, a rambling, sage-studded expanse atop 800-foot-high Mission Hill. The cross will be at the heart of a meeting next week between city officials and an attorney for three Ventura County residents upset by its religious symbolism... A member of Americans United...

Source: Record Searchlight

http://www.redding.com/top_stories/local/20030403toplo035.shtml

On April 3, 2003 the Record Searchlight reported that the "Good News Rescue Mission has notified local Sikhs that their services are no longer welcome... A March 27 letter from mission director the Rev. Jim Dahl to Kawaljit Singh followed an earlier conversation between the men. Singh said Dahl's message was clear in the two-page...

Source: The Baltimore Sun

On April 3, 2003 The Baltimore Sun reported that "a Frederick County minister was barred from giving the opening prayer in the Maryland Senate yesterday after he refused to do so without invoking the name of Jesus - and violating the body's guidelines for public prayer... The move revived a debate over the invocations that begin each legislative day and whether the prayers should include references to Christianity or other specific religious deities... After several prayers early in the session included Jesus Christ, Senate...

Source: The Washington Post

On April 2, 2003 The Washington Post reported that "the archbishop responsible for Roman Catholics in the U.S. military has assured them that they can serve 'in good conscience' despite opposition to the war in Iraq from Pope John Paul II, his cardinals and many U.S. bishops... The March 25 message to Catholics in uniform from Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien, head of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, was prompted by a letter from the bishop of a tiny branch of the church who said fighting in Iraq is a mortal sin... The...

Source: Daily News

On April 2, 2003 the Daily News reported that New York mayor "Bloomberg condemned yesterday anti-Semitic and anti-Christian school books in use at a number of Muslim private schools in the city... 'Personally, I find it disgraceful,' Bloomberg said when asked about a Sunday Daily News story reporting the schools' use of the books in their Islamic studies programs... The mayor made his comments while appearing with local Jewish leaders at 1 Police Plaza to discuss public safety concerns for the upcoming Passover holiday... The most...

Source: The Sun

http://www.sunspot.net/bal-ca.pagans01apr01.story

On April 1, 2003 The Sun reported that "gathered in the cramped but comfortable basement of a Finksburg church on a recent Friday night, the pagans joked about the difficulties of raising children and staying married. They riffed on contradictions they've found in the Christian Bible. They shared frustrations about growing up overweight, gay and apostate... Outside, not a single protester walked the dark,...

Source: The Baltimore Sun

On March 31, 2003 The Baltimore Sun reported that "overcome with emotion, Kay Ballard had to pause several times during yesterday's Prayers for World Peace, an event she coordinated to bring a diverse range of spiritual leaders to talk about peace... On the 12th day of the war in Iraq, Ballard gathered spiritual leaders to deliver their individual messages of peace. A rabbi spoke about making peace an active pursuit, while an imam talked about how the word peace in Arabic is a part of daily life... Interspersed in the two-hour...

Source: The Washington Post

On March 31, 2003 The Washington Post reported that "as a top officer in a combat helicopter squadron, Army Maj. Mike Mahony is used to emergencies. Two of his pilots were shot down last week. His unit's AH-64 Apache helicopters were damaged by Iraqi artillery. But this morning, he was handling a different kind of emergency: getting Communion to troops near the front lines... Mahony is an emergency minister of the Eucharist, or EME, a layman trained to administer the sacrament of Communion because of a shortage of Roman Catholic...

Source: The Daily Oklahoman

On March 29, 2003 The Daily Oklahoman reported that "When Muslim John Graff watches television news coverage of the war in Iraq, he admits to having mixed emotions... There is a sense of distaste resulting from the harmful things Saddam Hussein and his regime have done to the Iraqi people. Yet, Graff said there is the hesitancy to support the American military going in 'full force' to stop the Iraqi leader, because the Iraqis in the middle are 'our brothers and sisters...' Unitarian clergyman Mark Christian said he understands...

Source: Repository

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=91839

On March 29, 2003 the Repository reported that "at the biweekly Zen Buddhist meeting in the basement of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, eight people sit cross-legged on mats to meditate. Each person is lost in the world of his or her thoughts. Any sound — a rustle, a footstep, a shift in weight, a passing car — cuts through the room like a round of artillery... 'We’re trying to develop a mind where the Ohio...

Source: San Antonio Express-News

On March 28, 2003 the San Antonio Express-News reported that "San Fernando Cathedral is the geographic center of the city, but many - including non-Catholics - consider it the spiritual center, as well... In 1847, Franois P. Giraud was appointed the city's first surveyor. He started at the city's center - San Fernando - and measured four miles each direction from the church's dome for the survey. Since then, the church has served as a backdrop to community gatherings, be they joyful or tearful... Samuel M. Stahl, rabbi...

Source: Reuters