Christianity

Iowa School District Faces Law Suit Over Graduation Prayer

April 3, 2002

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...

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Passover in America, 2002: Interfaith Seders

April 1, 2002

Source: The Washington Post

On April 1, 2002, The Washington Post reported that in Washington DC, "Arab Christians and Muslims and Jews -- 12 in all -- assembled... [at] Glencarlyn Baptist Church -- for a Passover seder on Easter Sunday... Those at the seder attend various synagogues and mosques, and some don't attend any. They were just a group of Jews and Arabs organized... to come together for one night and show hope and trust during a time of utter bleakness." The Interfaith Seder refocused some of the traditions around the group's mourning for...

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Interfaith Gathering for "Inner Peace and Global Healing"

April 1, 2002

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...

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Interfaith Dialogue Focuses on History

April 1, 2002

Source: The Daily Breeze

http ://w ww.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."

New York Catholic Ritual Takes on New Significance

March 30, 2002

Source: The New York Times

On March 30, 2002, The New York Times featured an article on the Good Friday procesion across the Brooklyn Bridge in New York. "Following a man carrying a simple wooden cross, more than 2,000 people walked across the bridge toward ground zero. They walked in the hope that grafting Jesus' journey onto the geography of contemporary tragedy, they could find some comfort and meaning from the tenets of their faith: his death and resurrection... The walking of the Stations of the Cross [is] an annual Good Friday ritual that a lay...

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Passover in America, 2002: Interfaith Seders

March 30, 2002

Source: St. Petersburg Times

On March 30, 2002, The St. Petersburg Times featured the article "seder helps bridge gap between two faiths" on the Seder organized by members of the Women's Guild at St. Anthony Catholic Church in St. Petersburg, FL. The event was conducted in partnership with "Sally Charloff... and Gloria Goldman... [from] Temple Beth David Jewish Center... [who] led and assisted the Guild women in conducting this traditional Passover meal... During the seder ceremony, Goldman recited the Hebrew prayers while Charloff read the English...

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Naval Academy to Rethink Required Mealtime Prayer

March 30, 2002

Source: The Baltimore Sun

On March 30, 2002, The Baltimore Sun reported that the Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD may have to rethink their required mealtime prayer because of a pending case in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. "In January, a federal judge ruled that the Virginia Military Institute's practice of leading cadets in a mealtime grace - nearly identical to the academy's - violates separation of church and state... The case highlights the tensions between constitutional protections of religious freedom and the military's often conservative...

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Hate Group Delivers Anti-Semitic Pamphlets

March 28, 2002

Source: The Boston Globe

On March 28, 2002, The Boston Globe reported that in Hamilton, MA, "a month ago the Board of Selectmen rejected an Anti-Defamation League proclamation to combat intolerance, and yesterday a West Virginia-based hate group delivered anti-Semitic pamphlets to a downtown neighborhood... The pamphlets ask residents to 'Just say No to the Jewish ADL Agenda' and whether they want 'to prevent your daughters from procreating with subhumans.' Similar messages have been delivered to about a dozen communities around Boston... Police...

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Passover in America, 2002: Interfaith Seders

March 27, 2002

Source: The Plain Dealer

On March 27, 2002, The Plain Dealer featured an article on a Cleveland area Seder, or Passover meal, at Anshe Chesed Fairmount Jewish temple which "fed almost 400 Christians eager to nibble and sing their way through an interfaith Seder. The Reform congregation... welcomed guests from 29 churches... Passover, the most widely observed Jewish holiday, marks the moment when believers say God freed the captive Jews from Pharaoh in Egypt... The Seder means 'order' for the traditional course of the meal's events... Rabbi Melinda Mersack...

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The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization Creates Activist Model

March 23, 2002

Source: The Boston Globe

On March 23, 2002, The Boston Globe featured an article on "the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, a coalition of 98 churches, synogogues, unions, and community groups that ranks as one of the country's most successful grass-roots organizations... In its six-year history, the group has successfully lobbied the state" on a wide variety of issues including housing and education. "Since its founding in 1996, GBIO has stayed away from the pie-throwing, sit-in tactics favored by some activist groups, with an eye toward engaging an...

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Controversy Over How to Teach about Islam

March 19, 2002

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0319/p14s02-lecl.html

On March 19, 2002, The Christian Science Monitor reported that "education about religious holidays, particularly Christian ones, has long been a lightning rod for parental concerns. But this year, not surprisingly, Islam as a faith has come under particular scrutiny... Study about Islam was already part of many school curriculums. But some parents have raised concerns about...

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Chapman University Approves New Interfaith Chapel

March 18, 2002

Source: Los Angeles Times

On March 18, 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported that "four years ago, a 'ground blessing' celebrated plans to build an interfaith chapel on the campus of Chapman University in Orange [CA]... The 1998 'ground blessing'... included Jews, Muslims, Mormons and Wiccans. The Juaneno Indians provided a tobacco blessing... After a long dispute,... the City Council in January approved another revised plan for the 12,000-square-foot Wallace All Faiths Chapel--the final chapter in a lesson on the difficulties of finding the nexus...

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Debate Over City Council's Use of "In God We Trust" in Bakersfield, CA

March 18, 2002

Source: Los Angeles Times

On March 18, 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported that "the City Council of church-filled Bakersfield [CA] decided to place the national motto... 'In God We Trust'...to the walls of City Hall... 'We are doing something great tonight,' the councilwoman who suggested the posting said when it was overwhelmingly approved a few weeks ago... More remarkable has been the public debate that accompanied her proposal, the letters to the local paper condemning it and the fact that it was not supported by the mayor... The dissension...

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Tape Recording of Anti-Semitic Remarks By Rev. Billy Graham Released

March 17, 2002

Source: The New York Times

On March 17, 2002, The New York Times reported that Rev. Billy Graham's "sterling reputation as a healer and bridge-builder" was shattered when the tape of a 1972 conversation with former President Nixon in the Oval Office was made public by the National Archives. "Three decades after it was recorded, the North Carolina preacher's famous drawl is tinny but unmistakable on the tape, denigrating Jews... Mr. Graham, who is now 83 and in poor health, quickly issued a four-sentence apology, but he did not acknowledge making the...

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Editorial on Teaching about Religion: "Faith, Fear and Public Schools"

March 17, 2002

Source: The Denver Post

On March 17, 2002, The Denver Post featured the editorial "Faith, Fear and Public Schools" by Lori Colvin-Hobbs, a parent and business director at The Odyssey School in Denver, CO where middle school students are engaged in an Asian Studies program, which includes studying Asian religions. "For many families, both Christian and non-Christian, this learning expedition was an exciting opportunity for their students... But some Christian families in our school community saw the Asian studies curriculum as a threat - crossing...

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