Source: LJworld

On August 17, 2002 LJworld reported that "KC Pagan Pride Day 2002, a community festival celebrating its fifth year, will [take place on] Aug. 24 in Lenexa's Shawnee Mission Park, and event organizers expect about 250 people from the region to attend... 'The people that come (to the festival) have always been friendly, and I believe Christians would be made to feel welcome. It's about educating people. Yes, it has a very pagan slant, but the main focus is community,' said the Rev. Duane Marshall, event coordinator. Marshall is a legal...

Source: Omaha World-Herald

On August 17, 2002 the Omaha World-Herald reported that in Nebraska, "'Faith to Faith,' a new interfaith radio show, will debut Sept. 8...     The weekly show will discuss religious issues from several different faith perspectives, including Jewish, Christian and Muslim.  Guest panelists will address such topics as faith and ethics, creationism, forgiveness and the afterlife... During the first half of the hourlong show, local and national panelists of different religious persuasions will discuss a topic among themselves...

Source: The New York Times

On August 16, 2002, The New York Times reported that "incoming freshmen at the University of North Carolina will participate in discussion groups on Islam's holy text after a judge ruled that having them read about the Quran did not threaten religious freedoms... U.S. District Court judge Carlton Tilley Jr. refused Thursday to grant a temporary restraining order requested by two taxpayers, one of them an official of the conservative Virginia-based Family Policy Network, and three unidentified freshmen."

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On August 16, 2002 The Columbus Dispatch reported that "for millennia, religions have addressed workplace ethics and business conduct. In recent months, however, such issues have been given heightened attention because of corporate scandals, widespread layoffs and the vast influence of corporations... Lama Kathy Wesley of the Karma Thegsum Choling Buddhist Meditation Center on the West Side, said people in her temple often come to her with questions about work relationships and duties. They sometimes express anxiety about...

Source: The New York Times

On August 15, 2002, The New York Times reported that "nine months after calling Islam 'a very evil and wicked religion,' the evangelist Franklin Graham said yesterday that Muslims had not sufficiently apologized for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and that they should help compensate victims' families... Last week, Mr. Graham said that terrorism is part of 'mainstream' Islam and that the Koran 'preaches violence'... Muslim groups dismissed Mr. Graham's statements... The Council on American-Islamic Relations has tracked and...

Source: Time Magazine

https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,335965,00.html

On August 13, 2002, Time Magazine featured a story on the continuing controversy over the University of North Carolina's required reading on the Qur'an.

Source: The Boston Globe

On August 13, 2002 The Boston Globe reported that "the Catholic Church, which spent hundreds of years trying forcibly to convert Jews to Christianity, has come to the conclusion that it is theologically unacceptable to target Jews for evangelization, according to a statement issued yesterday by organizations representing US Catholic bishops and rabbis from the country's two largest Jewish denominations...  The declaration, which was negotiated by the bishops and an organization representing Conservative and Reform rabbis,...

Source: The Seattle Times

On August 13, 2002, The Seattle Times featured an editorial on the activities of a Seattle Mosque. "The Idriss mosque in the Northgate area reached out to its neighbors and the community at large after Sept. 11, even after enduring attempts to vandalize and burn down the mosque. Mosque leaders and members helped to explain Islam to people suddenly fearful of it... And the community, including members of many faiths, reached back, some even watching the mosque 'round-the-clock to prevent any further attacks...    On Sunday,...

Source: The Seattle Times

On August 12, 2002 The Seattle Times reported in the Northgate area of Seattle, Washington, the "Idriss Mosque received an outpouring of support after it was vandalized shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. Now, some neighbors have become friends...    Yesterday, the mosque held a barbecue to say thanks to those who supported it after the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, when Muslims - and the mosque itself - became targets of violence... Dozens of neighbors and mosque worshipers mingled in the breezy shade behind...

Source: CAIR

On August 9, 2002, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reported on their release of a web site "designed to allow local mosques, churches, synagogues, and other religious institutions to register their participation in a September 11th national 'Day of Unity and Prayer' commemorating the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon."
SEE: http://www.cair-net.org/dayofunity/

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...