Source: The Associated Press

http://www.fac.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=17169

On October 28, 2002 The Associated Press reported that "a federal judge says a Maui church’s zoning dispute won’t be decided based on a federal religious land-use law but will instead be decided on First Amendment grounds. On Oct. 24, U.S. District Judge Samuel P. King also dismissed members of the Maui County planning commission and the county planning director...

Source: The Oregonian

On October 28, 2002 The Oregonian reported that "faith leaders and followers gather at a Portland church to oppose an attack on Iraq and pray that others will join them. This demonstration -- for peace with Iraq -- came in the form of a worship service, beginning with a procession of about 20 faith leaders that included Christian clergy, a Jewish rabbi, a Zen Buddhist monk, a Sikh and others. About 50 people behind them in the honey-colored pews included Roman Catholics from Southeast Portland, Methodists from Oregon City, Muslims...

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=1688

On October 28, 2002 the Los Angeles Times reported that "led by the Rev. George Regas of the Progressive Religious Partnership, religious spokesmen in Los Angeles this week denounced the prospect of a preemptive war against Iraq as 'immoral, illegal and unwise.' The religious opponents of Bush's policy list a host of secular reasons for their position: Iraq has not declared war on the U.S.; there is...

Source: The New York Times

On October 27, 2002 The New York Times reported that "by many accounts, religion had always been a stabilizing factor in the life of John Allen Muhammad, who is charged with murder in the sniper rampage that killed 10 people in the Washington region. But as the behavior of the sniper suspect careened out of control this month, so did the character of the religious utterances -- furious proclamations of 'I am God' and belligerent telephone calls to priests -- that law enforcement officials attributed to him. A rapid and...

Source: The New York Times

On October 27, 2002 The New York Times reported that "a... legal brawl involving the mayor and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... over rights to a block of prime downtown land is almost certain to reach the United States Supreme Court in a test of First Amendment rights that also touches on the separation of church and state. At the center of the fight is the Main Street Plaza, a lovely block of flower beds and fountains that connects the main temple of the church's world headquarters and its main...

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On October 27, 2002 The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that "many followers of the three faiths descended from the patriarch Abraham --- a vast majority of Americans --- accept war as inevitable. If it can't be avoided, their goal becomes to conduct war with integrity. Perhaps the best-known rules of warfare are the "just war" principles, conceived by St. Augustine in the late fourth century and refined by St. Thomas Aquinas and a chain of other Christian thinkers through the years... other...

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On October 27, 2002 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that "many conservative Christians have stopped celebrating what today is the second -biggest commercial holiday, after Christmas, in America with an expected $6.9 billion in sales of candy, decorations and costumes this year. The anti-Halloween movement has ebbed and flowed in this country, flaring up most recently, experts say, around 20 years ago when reports of razor blades in apples and poisoned candies became more common, not to mention widespread vandalism...

Source: The Boston Globe

On October 27, 2002 The Boston Globe reported that "the piecemeal approach that John Allen Muhammad took to religion suggests that his fractured personality, more than his spiritual beliefs, led to the terrifying violence that killed at least 10 people. 'The fact that he shot black people shows that the Nation of Islam had nothing to do with it,' said Raqib Muied, who founded the Nation's Seattle mosque in 1963 and has since defected to another black Muslim group called the Muslim American Society. 'They tell me Timothy McVeigh...

Source: The Seattle Times

On October 26, 2002 The Seattle Times reported that "after a decade of futility, the prayers of Seattle's Christian Arabs were answered, and now the Maronite Catholic Mission is celebrating its one-year anniversary in Pinehurst near Lake City... Seattle's Arab Americans tried to lure a Maronite Catholic priest to town -- a pastor who could recite prayers in English, Arabic and Syriac, a dialect of the Semitic language Jesus Christ is believed to have spoken. Today, under the direction of the Rev. Peter Karam, who was raised in...

Source: Omaha World-Herald

On October 26, 2002 Omaha World-Herald reported that "Some... conservative Christians, Jews and Muslims, object to [Halloween's] pagan roots. But Halloween, which many Americans will celebrate Thursday, actually has numerous ties to Christian faiths. Halloween has its origins in the pagan celebration of the Celtic New Year, which fell during harvest time, around the beginning of November. The Celts - who lived in what are today the British Isles and France - honored the New Year with several festivals, the most important of...

Source: National Council of Churches

http://www.ncccusa.org/news/02news89.html

On October 25, 2002 the National Council of Churches issued the comments of its General Secretary on the death of Senator Paul Wellstone. It read, "Senator Wellstone was fearless and faithful in his pursuit of justice for all persons. We at the National Council of Churches have more than once been grateful for his leadership on behalf of programs to assist the least, the last and the lost. His great...

Source: The Advocate

On October 25, 2002 The Advocate reported that "religious diversity can make a positive difference in a community, the director of interfaith relations [Rev. Jay Thomas Rock] for the National Council of Churches in Christ in USA said Thursday at the annual Baton Rouge Community Prayer Breakfast. 'It will take all of us to establish the kind of just society that we as religious people envision,' the Rev. Jay Thomas Rock said. 'Welcoming one whom we think is a stranger is not a matter of altruism. It is essential to our own spiritual...

Source: U.S. Newswire

On October 24, 2002 U.S. Newswire reported that "Calling a unilateral pre-emptive action against Iraq immoral, more than 125 Christian leaders and representatives from Jewish and Muslim faiths in the United States have signed onto a Statement of Conscience on the Iraq War... Citing sacred texts from the Qu'ran, Jewish and Christian scriptures, and elsewhere, religious leaders caution their government to take action against Iraq only through the United Nations, if at all. The...

Source: The Coalition for Peace and Justice of Charlotte

On October 24, 2002 The Coalition for Peace and Justice of Charlotte issued a press release that stated, "The Coalition for Peace and Justice of Charlotte (CPJ) is holding a protest at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association groundbreaking ceremony on Billy Graham Parkway... This protest has been organized to remind our community and Franklin Graham that Islam is not the enemy."

Source: The Associated Press

On October 24, 2002 The Associated Press reported that "groups angered by evangelist Franklin Graham's condemnation of Islam say they'll picket the groundbreaking ceremony for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association complex. Organizers say up to 100 people plan to line Billy Graham Parkway on Tuesday to protest Franklin Graham's comments in a TV interview last year that Islam is 'a very evil and very wicked religion.' Graham reiterated his criticism on a TV news show in August, arguing that the Quran preaches violence."