Source: The New York Times

On February 9, 2002, The New York Times reported that "the Tennessee county where the Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925 resulted in a verdict favoring the classroom teaching of biblical creationism over evolution was ordered today by a federal district judge here to stop holding Bible classes in its elementary schools... The classes, held in Rhea County for 51 years, violate the constitutional separation of church and state, said the judge, R. Allan Edgar...The 30-minute classes were held weekly for about 800 students in...

Source: Star Tribune

On February 9, 2002, the Star Tribune reported that "ever since Sept. 11 the United States has seen a resurgence of sensitivity to and expressions of civil religion - we value service, cooperation, equality of justice and opportunity, respect for diversity and national symbols and ideas... The Rev. Peg Chemberlin, executive director of the Minnesota Council of Churches, said, 'Part of what we're seeing is a firm commitment to the celebration of religious pluralism. In that it's a central value of a democracy'... Chemberlin said, '...

Source: The Boston Globe

On February 9, 2002, The Boston Globe reported that "the Massachusetts Council of Churches, which for a century has been an exclusively Protestant organization, has welcomed the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Boston to its membership, marking a milestone for ecumenical relations here... The organization, which works toward unity of Christian churches and which lobbies the Legislature on behalf of its members, now represents every major Christian church in Massachusetts except the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic dioceses of...

Source: The New York Times

On February 8, 2002, The New York Times featured the story "Seeing Heresy in a Service for Sept. 11." It reported on the controversy over Rev. David Benke's participation in the national prayer service with leaders from other faiths. The article explained, "Addressing his 'brothers and sisters,' he prayed: 'The strength we have is the power of love. And the power of love you have received is from God, for God is love. So take the hand of one next to you now and join me in prayer on this field of dreams turned into God's house of...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On February 7, 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported that "Los Angeles city school officials have pulled nearly 300 translations of the Koran from school libraries after learning that commentary in the books was derogatory toward Jews... Copies of 'The Meaning of the Holy Quran' were donated in December to the Los Angeles Unified School District by a local Muslim foundation, said Jim Konantz, director of information technology for the district. Konantz said the books, offered as a goodwill gesture in response to the Sept....

Source: Rocky Mountain News

On February 7, 2002, the Rocky Mountain News reported that "residents of The Meadows subdivision are battling the town's largest church over 53 acres that could be annexed into Castle Rock [CO] and transformed into a regional religious center... Neighbors say they don't object to a new $7 million Church Of The Rock being put directly to their west at the end of Cherokee Drive. They just don't want everything else that comes with it... "This isn't a church. It's a mega-church," said Jamie Kimbrough, a Meadows...

Source: Star Tribune

On February 7, 2002, the Star Tribune reported that "Bishop Thomas Gumbleton told an overflow crowd of about 1,300 Wednesday night at the Basilica of St. Mary that the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks should be forgiven and an 'active love' undertaken... 'We should pray for those who perpetrated that extraordinary violence against us on September 11,' said Gumbleton, a 72-year-old Catholic priest from Detroit. 'You can't worship God unless you forgive your brothers and sisters'... Gumbleton, one of only four U.S....

Source: Los Angeles Times

On February 5, 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported that "the Praise Christian Center... sits inside a 1920s-era warehouse, a tin structure tucked in a corner of what was once an oil field. The land is now owned by a landscape-supply company. Trouble is, Huntington Beach officials say, the little church is illegal... A few days before Christmas, the Rev. Derek Anunciation was told he could no longer hold services in the converted warehouse until he obtained various permits and had fire marshals inspect lights and ceiling fans. The...

Source: The Denver Post

On February 4, 2002, The Denver Post reported that "fifty years ago, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians fled before the Russians, and some ended up [in Denver], where they built their church, Transfiguration of Our Lord Ukrainian Catholic Church. Their numbers are few, and they are aging, but at least 150 people meet... every Sunday."

Source: The Seattle Times

On February 3, 2002, The Seattle Times reported that "in the weeks immediately following Sept. 11, church pews, synagogue seats and mosque prayer halls were filled as they hadn't been in years. People openly talked about God and religion, uttered prayers and returned to places of worship they hadn't been inside since childhood. Some predicted a revival of religious life in America... But these days, the initial rush has tapered off. Americans, it seems, have gone back to life as usual, which, for most, doesn't include weekly...

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/mandala

On February 3, 2002, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that "for six hours a day for two weeks... 20 Tibetan Buddhist monks... [created] the largest sand painting ever constructed in the United States... They began creating Jan. 11, four months after terrorists struck the Pentagon, [until] the day of the painting's final consecration, just before it...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On February 2, 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported on a common "concern in Asian and Asian American churches: In becoming a Christian, does a convert sever ties with his non-Christian loved ones." The article focuses on the story of Dickson Yagi, "born in a Buddhist family in Hawaii... He had been the first member of his Shingon Buddhist family to convert to Christianity... Yagi went on to become a Southern Baptist minister... The third-generation Okinawan American's personal experiences convinced him that the 'good news' of...

Source: The Hartford Courant

On February 2, 2002, The Hartford Courant reported that "after years of worshiping in rented space while enduring failed attempts to establish a place of their own, [central Connecticut] Muslims have what they have been searching for... The mosque is in a former bowling alley turned office building... The congregation does not yet have an imam, a Muslim religious leader, and plans for a library and kitchen will have to wait until funding improves. But just having a site for the 44 member families devoted to the Shiite branch of...

Source: The Oregonian

On February 1, 2002 The Oregonian featured an editorial on a meeting in Clatskanie, OR that was "sponsored by a Portland-based Zen Buddhist group, the Zen Community of Oregon, to explain its plans to remodel a former elementary school into a monastery and seminary. But many objected to adding the Zen sanctuary to the community's eight churches... 'Our goal is to protect those that have not yet accepted Christ,' said Loren Dummer, the Assembly of God pastor. He worried that that the Zen Buddhists, who are not evangelical, would try to...

Source: Yahoo

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/020131/sfth093_1.html

On January 31, 2002, a press release from Glide Memorial Church announced, "Sikhs Help Homeless Battle Freezing Nights: Distribute 250 Blankets at Glide Memorial." The press release stated, in part: "Tomorrow the Sikh community will join with Glide Memorial to distribute 250 blankets to the homeless. The Sikh Gurdwara Temple of El Sobrante donated all 250 blankets to Glide. The blanket give-away is a direct response...