Source: Los Angeles Times

On August 8, 2002 the Los Angeles Times reported that "two years ago, about a dozen legal cases were working their way through the courts regarding the posting of the Ten Commandments on public property - schools and parks, even city halls. Now the number has risen to about 20, legal experts say... 'It may be that both sides are getting more aggressive about litigation,' said Douglas Laycock, a law professor at the University of Texas in Austin. 'You're not going to get a national consensus on this.'"

Source: The Washington Times

http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20020808-13967463.htm

On August 8, 2002 The Washington Times featured an article on the continuing anti-Muslim public statements of Rev. Franklin Graham. "The 50-year-old evangelist - the fourth child of the Rev. Billy Graham... is making his dislike of certain Islamic practices known far and wide. The other night on Fox News' 'Hannity and Colmes,' he said the Koran preaches violence... After...

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57379-2002Aug7.html

On August 7, 2002, The Washington Post featured an editorial by Prof. Michael Sells. "The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, is being sued for assigning my book, Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations, as required summer reading for first-year students... The plaintiffs charge that UNC indoctrinates students with deceptive claims about the...

Source: The Washington Post

On August 7, 2002, The Washington Post reported that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill "is asking all 3,500 incoming freshmen to read a book about Islam and [now] finds itself besieged in federal court and across the airwaves by Christian evangelists and other conservatives... The university chose 'Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations'... because of intense interest in Islam since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks...   To the university's faculty and some students, the dispute is about upholding UNC's...

Source: The Providence Journal-Bulletin

On August 4, 2002 The Providence Journal-Bulletin featured an editorial response by Charles Haynes, of the First Amendment Center, to recent criticisms of Interfaith events. "In the long shadow of Sept. 11, Americans are rediscovering what most of the world has never forgotten: religious differences matter... In reality, for most Jews, Christians, Muslims and others, it does matter what you believe... Ignoring religious differences doesn't work... [The] alternative is for Americans to address religious differences...

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On August 3, 2002 The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that "for the next seven Sundays, an interfaith group of 400 Baha'i, Baptist, Episcopal, Jewish, Methodist, Muslim, Seventh-day Adventist and Unitarian congregation members will build a house on behalf of Atlanta Habitat for Humanity... They also are getting to know each other... Habitat started building interfaith houses a couple of years ago, but nothing as inclusive as this project, said Larrie Martin, executive director for Atlanta Habitat...

Source: The Patriot News

On August 2, 2002 The Patriot News reported that "both the National Council of Churches and a coalition of American Muslim groups are calling for interfaith observances on Sept. 11... The council of churches, representing primarily mainline Protestant and Orthodox denominations, urged [its members] to 'commemorate the tragic terrorist events of last fall in a constructive way that would broaden interfaith understanding, and to return the hospitality many mosques offered Christians after last fall's attacks.'"

Source: The Associated Press

http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=16657

On July 31, 2002, The Associated Press reported that "Attorneys general from 48 states and two territories are calling on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision that declared the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional... In a letter to the Court of Appeals, the attorneys general said the decision is legally flawed and the matter...

Source: The Bakersfield Californian

http://www.bakersfield.com/local/story/1505644p-1623213c.html

On July 29, 2002 The Bakersfield Californian reported that in Bakersfield, California "a ceremony in the council chambers will formally dedicate... 'In God We Trust'... the words that were mounted last week above the city seal behind the council dais... And representatives of the city's Islamic, Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu, Jewish, American Indian, Catholic and...

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On July 26, 2002, The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the State of California "appealed the Pledge of Allegiance case Thursday, telling a federal appeals court that school children's vow of loyalty to 'one nation under God' is not a religious invocation... The federal government and the Elk Grove Unified School District, where the case arose, are also planning appeals."

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Source: The Associated Press

http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=16580

On July 23, 2002, The Associated Press reported that "three students and a conservative Christian organization have filed a lawsuit against the University of North Carolina, saying the required reading of a book about Islam is unconstitutional... The suit... says the university is infringing on students' First Amendment right to religious freedom by...

Source: The Herald-Sun

http://www.muslimdialog.org/

On July 20, 2002 The Herald-Sun featured an article on the Durham, North Carolina organization Americans and Muslims for Intercultural Dialogue. The groups goal is "to promote religious tolerance and knowledge of Islam... Their objective is twofold: to combat what they see as a rising tide of intolerance of Islam in the United States, and to counter-balance what they call increasing fundamentalism within some Muslim groups here and...

Source: The Washington Post

On July 20, 2002, The Washington Post reported that "last month, the Rev. Wallace Schulz of Pacific, Missouri, a vice president of the church,... suspended a New York pastor for joining... an interfaith service at Yankee Stadium after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." Schulz was, until recently, the main host of 'The Lutheran Hour,' "a St. Louis-based gospel program carried by more than 1,000 radio stations [and]... the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod's most prominent pulpit...    [But] deluged with criticism of [Schulz'...