Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

On April 12, 2002, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that "federal agents... said they believed arson was to blame for a... fire that gutted a Silicon Valley [CA] church with a large Arab American congregation... Search dogs found remnants of a flammable liquid inside the Antiochian Orthodox Church of the Redeemer, which burned to the ground early Sunday morning. Damage was estimated at $1 million. The church, 40 miles south of San Francisco, serves a mix of Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian and Egyptian...

Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

On April 12, 2002, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that "San Diegans are responding with prayers and rallies to the violence in the Holy Land that continues to rip apart a territory held sacred by Christians, Jews and Muslims... [Recently] people gathered in downtown San Diego for interfaith prayers calling for peace... Among the participants were Rabbi Martin Lawson, of Temple Emanu-El, Imam Sharif Battikhi, president of the Islamic Services Foundation, and the Rev. Art Cribbs, president of the Ecumenical...

Source: Star Tribune

http://www.lcppm.org

On April 12, 2002, the Star Tribune reported that "Twin Cities religious activists are seeking ways to teach residents about how faith organizations can best improve the lives of the area's burgeoning immigrant populations... An all-day seminar, Stand With Africa, will be held... at Central Lutheran Church... What this seminar hopes to do is encourage Minnesotans to work on issues involving Africa, as well as helping local immigrant communities. Experts...

Source: The New York Times

On April 12, 2002, The New York Times reported that "President Bush urged the Senate... to pass a bill... that would give federal money to religious charities." The President also spoke to "a gathering of religious and charity leaders in the East Room, which the White House billed as a rallying call to pressure the Democratic-controlled Senate to act... The legislation, a compromise reached between the White House and Democrats that is a watered-down version of what the president originally wanted, is stuck in the Senate...

Source: St. Petersburg Times

On April 12, 2002, The St. Petersburgh Times reported that "Metropolitan Ministries, the [St. Petersburgh, FL] area's best-known charity for the homeless and poor, will drop its requirement that professed Christians make up a majority of its board of directors... It also began recruiting 13 people from a 'rainbow coalition' of religious faiths to join the 22 Christians now on the board."

Source: Omaha World-Herald

On April 12, 2002, the Omaha World-Herald reported that "residents backing their school district in [Woodbine, IO] aren't going to let go of 'The Lord's Prayer' quietly... The Woodbine School Board voted 4-0 Thursday night, with one member abstaining, to defend the song and challenge a lawsuit filed by the Iowa Civil Liberties Union."

Source: The North Jersey News

Source: Newsday

On April 8, 2002, Newsday reported that "from Episcopal and Protestant churches to Jewish synagogues and Hindu temples, religious leaders... are reflecting on the sexual abuse scandal within the Roman Catholic Church and its potential impact on their own houses of worship... In truth, the scourge of clergy sexual abuse has been exposed in virtually every religious faith and denomination... Members of the Jewish Orthodox faith recently... [faced] their own sexual abuse scandal involving... a leader in the Orthodox Union's National...

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On April 7, 2002, The San Francisco Chronicle featured an article on the new Polish Mission Church in San Jose, CA. "After 1981, a new wave of Poles swept into Silicon Valley. In 1991, a pledge campaign was started to raise the $1.4 million they needed to build their own church. It was opened, after much hard work, three years ago." This Easter "families arrived, bringing baskets of sausage, bread, butter and hard-boiled eggs to be blessed for Easter breakfast... 'They come once a year to bless the food, because this...

Source: Newsday

On April 6, 2002, Newsday featured an article on St. George's Episcopal Church in Flushing, Queens "has adapted as its membership has changed... through the centuries... From its early years, [the Church] served a diverse group of immigrants that included French Huguenots, Irish Catholics, German Protestants and Dutch Reformers - opened its doors to more newcomers, among them emigrants from the Caribbean and the West Indies; African-Americans from Harlem, who began settling in Flushing in the 1950s; Chinese emigrants, who arrived in the...

Source: The Antelope Valley Press

http://www.avpress.com/n/sasty1.hts

On April 6, 2002, The Antelope Valley Press reported on a Pagan ceremony in Southern California that was distrupted by Christian protests. "Celebrants taking part in the ceremony said they were the targets of loud and aggressive prayer, physical bumping, loud Christian music and a caravan of noisy vehicles... A pagan worshiper," who asked one of the protesters to turn...

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On April 5, 2002, The Columbus Dispatch reported that "many non-Muslims have sought to understand why the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon apparently were committed by zealous adherents of a billion-member world faith. Colleges, churches and community organizations are trying to slake a thirst for knowledge about the 1,400-year-old religion and its principles... America's sudden interest in Islam has meant full calendars for scholars and clerics over the past seven months... Columbus-area...

Source: Omaha World-Herald

On April 3, 2002, the Omaha World-Herald reported that "a western Iowa school board's decision to proceed with the singing of 'the Lord's Prayer' at graduation has sparked a legal challenge... The Iowa Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit against the... School District on behalf of a couple whose twins are in the school choir... The 14-year-old twins, Donovan and Ruth Skarin, are uncomfortable being forced to sing 'the Lord's Prayer'... Their parents, Donald and Christine Skarin, are not Christians, and they...

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On April 1, 2002, The San Francisco Chronicle reported that "representatives from three of the world's great religions -- Christianity, Judaism and Islam -- gathered yesterday in a chapel at San Francisco's old Presidio to listen and question each other about their spiritual beliefs... A crowd of nearly 50 people from different faiths and traditions participated in the interfaith discussion 'Inner Peace for Global Healing'... A common thread tying the discussion together was the notion that only with the discovery...

Source: The Daily Breeze

http://www.dailybreeze.com/content/bln/nmbmuslim8.html

On April 1, 2002, The Daily Breeze reported on an interfaith dialgoue in Torrance, CA. The meeting was part of the Annual Religions' Founders Day sponsored by the Worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Association. Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh religious leaders gathered "to discuss the origins and teachings of their faiths."