Source: The Christian Science Monitor

On May 23, 2002 The Christian Science Monitor reported that "the ultratraditional Swartzentruber sect of Amish living in western Pennsylvania refuse to use... the simple orange triangle, which state law requires on the backs of all slow-moving vehicles... on their horse-drawn buggies... The police have ticketed them, but they've resisted paying the fines... Matters came to a head when 19 Amish, responsible for a total of 24 tickets... appeared in Cambria County [PA] Court last month, defended by lawyers who were secured...

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0523/p16s01-lire.html

On May 23, 2002 The Christian Science Monitor featured an article on the interfaith work of Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff. "After 28 years in the military - which took him from Vietnam to the top job of Command Chaplain for all US forces in Europe - the retired Navy captain is now working to increase understanding between faiths in the United States... Rabbi Resnicoff became national...

Source: St. Petersburg Times

On May 22, 2002 the St. Petersburg Times reported that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed suit charging Sykes Enterprises Inc. with religious discrimination. Sykes terminated Frances Wagner in 1997 from her job "answering tech support questions from computer users at a call center in Sterling, Colo... But when she was reassigned to provide technical support for ultra-violent computer games, she said her religious convictions prevented her from doing so. And when she balked, Wagner said, the Tampa [FL]...

Source: Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago press release

http://www.ciogc.org/pages/Media/480/pageDetailPB.html

On May 22, 2002 a Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago press release reported, "In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, Supt. Terry G. Hillard and other top Chicago Police officials began meeting with leaders of Chicago-area Sikh, Muslim, Orthodox Greek and Middle Eastern community groups who voiced concerns about racial...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On May 21, 2002 The Houston Chronicle reported that "a case involving a group of Brenham [TX] churches preaching that welfare recipients need a relationship with Jesus to prepare for work is heading back to court... The 5th U.S. Court of Appeals has sent the case back to federal district court to determine whether $ 8,000 awarded to the Jobs Partnership of Washington County must be repaid to taxpayers... At issue is whether the charitable choice program violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of separation of church and...

Source: Star Tribune

On May 21, 2002 the Star Tribune reported that St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota "has chapel every weekday morning... That tradition makes St. Olaf an anomaly among competitive liberal arts colleges. In Minnesota and across the country, many selective schools founded by churches in the 19th century have cut the ties that gave them birth... Sunday services usually draw 300 to 350 people, mostly students, with attendance on holiday and parent weekends swelling to as many as 1,100... Daily chapel at St. Olaf is...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On May 19, 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported that "at least seven churches, synagogues and religious schools throughout the state [of California] have filed lawsuits against cities as part of a nationwide effort by religious groups to use a new federal law to overturn local zoning restrictions... The groups are invoking the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, passed in 2000, to gain leverage in states where they say churches are routinely denied building permits in favor of projects that bring in tax...

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On May 18, 2002, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on the Pittsburgh, PA area's "second Celebrating Diversity Walk... Last year, some 400 people of all types from all over the region participated in the event, which promotes understanding and harmony between people of all races, religions, and national origins... This year's theme is, 'When you walk to celebrate diversity, you walk to celebrate America.'" Jewish, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhist religious leaders will speak at the event which is organized...

Source: The Lawrence Journal-World

http://www.ljworld.com/section/satliving/story/93247

On May 18, 2002, The Lawrence Journal-World featured the article "World of Faith" on Baker University's World Religions Course taught by professor George Wiley. Wiley is a Pluralism Project affiliate in northeast Kansas. "The students, who broke down into groups of three or four, scoured the region looking for communities of faith other than Christianity” such as Hindu...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On May 18, 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported on a meeting of ecumenical Christian leaders, a movement that has traditionally been missing the voices of American Roman Catholics and evangelical Protestants. "That may change after a recent high-level meeting in Chicago at which Catholic, evangelical and mainline Protestant leaders formed what is being called Christian Churches Together in the USA and agreed to work for greater unity among major U.S. Christian churches."

Source: PCUSA NEWS

On May 17, 2002, PCUSA NEWS reported that "Christian and Muslim leaders from around the world will visit the United States in September to meet with selected groups of Presbyterians and talk about interfaith relations in their countries and cultures... A pilot project called 'Interfaith Listening' will involve as many as a dozen teams - each consisting of one Christian from a Presbyterian Church (USA) partner overseas and one Muslim with whom the partner is in dialogue - that will meet with PC(USA) congregations and presbyteries...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On May 17, 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported that "Religious institutions cannot be held liable for discriminating against employees on the basis of religion, the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously... The state high court threw out a lawsuit by an evangelical Christian who was fired from a Catholic medical foundation after he proselytized to other employees... Secular employers can still be held liable for religious discrimination, but religions need 'considerable discretion to choose employees who will not...

Source: The Boston Globe

On May 17, 2002, The Boston Globe featured a story on Jehuda Reinharz, president of Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, and his new program in conflict resolution. With this program, the university is "poised to become a world leader in teaching Israeli Arabs and Jews - and dozens of other warring peoples - to live together on the same land... Brandeis has begun building on its historically Jewish identity to create a new field it calls 'coexistence studies'... The school is now aggessively recruiting Jews and Arabs, Hindus and...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On May 15, 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported that "a bill in Congress, opposed by conservationists and history buffs, would allow the Mormon Church to buy a chunk of historic public land beside four pioneer trails southwest of Casper, Wyo... The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wants to buy a 1,640-acre site known as Martin's Cove, where at least 56 Mormon immigrants died in a blizzard in 1856... But conservationists worry that the U.S. Department of the Interior would set a dangerous precedent by selling...

Source: The Boston Globe

On May 13, 2002, The Boston Globe reported that "the local Vietnamese Catholic community pledged its support for the archbishop [Cardinal Bernard Law]... and condemned sex abuse by priests... Theresa Pham, 55, of Boston, said she and other Vietnamese Catholics felt that Law has done much for their community and other refugees."