Source: Rocky Mountain News

On February 12, 2001, the Denver Rocky Mountain News reported that "the threat of a civil liberties lawsuit may result in city voters casting ballots to save the Ten Commandments tablet in front of [Denver] City Hall by giving it away, or by selling about 45 square feet of property to a private group...The American Civil Liberties Union...contacted the city last September to call the tablet an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment...The tablet was provided to the city in 1958 by the Fraternal Order of Eagles." The...

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

On February 12, 2001, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that in a recent speech about black history at a Chicago church, the Rev. Jesse Jackson "issued warnings about faith-based social service programs funded by the government...[He said the] 'church must not...compromise its independence.'"

Source: Los Angeles Times

On February 11, 2001, the Los Angeles Times published a piece by Judith F. Daar, a professor of law at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California, in which she criticized Bush's new faith-based proposal. Daar writes, "I am concerned that no longer will separation of church and state mean the government cannot fund religious organizations' missions to preach the tenets of their faith. Instead, separation could merely require that in so proselytizing, religious groups must also lend a helping hand to the downtrodden. To say that...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On February 11, 2001, the Los Angeles Times published an op-ed piece by Judith F. Daar, a professor of law at Whittier Law School in, Costa Mesa, California, in which she criticized Bush's new faith-based initiative. She sees a trend in the Bush administration of disregarding the First Amendment regarding the separation of church and state. "From the multiple utterances of God and Jesus in the inaugural ceremonies to removing funding for international family planning organizations, we have seen President Bush's own faith dictate...

Source: The Buffalo News

On February 10, 2001, The Buffalo News reported that "diversity within the Catholic Church will be the theme of this year's Catholic Youth Convention next weekend in Niagara Falls. More than 1,000 teenagers and adults from 70 parishes in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo are expected to attend the event...The featured speaker for Friday's opening session will be Brian Johnson, youth director for the Galveston-Houston Catholic Diocese in Texas...Johnson, an African-American who grew up in Baltimore, served as a facilitator for "...

Source: Star Tribune

On February 10, 2001, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that, among the Hmong community in the Twin Cities, some have embraced Christianity over the past 50 years, "but many have remained faithful to the traditional faith, shamanism...The Hmong are a farming people who live in mountainous ranges in Southeast Asia and southern China. Refugees began immigrating to the United States in the 1970s, after the Vietnam War ended...Today, about 11 percent of the estimated 75,000 to 80,000 Hmong in the Twin Cities are Christian, according to...

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

On February 9, 2001, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported on Wisconsin's first Christian Scientist governor, Gov. Scott McCallum. Christian Science is "a remarkably democratic religion -- one with local autonomy, no clergy and no formal doctrines...Few Wisconsin residents know much about the religion other than a vague sense that it emphasizes faith rather than medicine in healing...That might raise questions about the fact that one of McCallum's first policy initiatives was a proposal to make prescription drugs more...

Source: USA TODAY

On February 8, 2001, USA TODAY published an article about the Mormon Church's plans to take advantage of the Olympic Games being held in Salt Lake City next year. "Mormons founded this city as their own Kingdom of God, built the temple that is its visual icon and, while constituting more than 70% of Utah's population, largely sway state politics. And the fast-growing Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...isn't reticent about self-promotion...For the Olympics, it will 'try to tell the story of Mormonism in every possible way.'...The...

Source: Star Tribune

On February 7, 2001, the Minneapolis Star Tribune published an article by Donald E. Miller, which said that "the Senate approval of John Ashcroft as attorney general signals an important shift in the religious demography of the United States. For years, the religion of choice for members of Congress and major presidential appointments was from the so-called Protestant mainstream denominations...But now we have a Pentecostal, a member of the Assemblies of God, holding one of the nation's most influential political posts...Pentecostals...

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

On February 5, 2001, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that three employees of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago have filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, saying they were discriminated against because they were Hispanic. "Their allegations include verbal harassment, intimidation, unfair working conditions and denial of resources. The women also filed gender discrimination charges...The problem has been discussed before...In an Aug. 16, 2000, memorandum...the Rev. Esequiel Sanchez, director...

Source: The Times-Picayune

On February 4, 2001, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that the tenth annual Tet celebration at Mary Queen of Vietnam Catholic Church in New Orleans drew thousands of Vietnamese Americans on Jan. 26-28. The festivities included food, singers, bands, and dancing. "According to the Vietnamese lunar calendar, Jan. 24 was the first day of the New Year, the Year of the Snake, and it is the year 4699...The first day, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are worshipped; the second day is a memorial day for deceased ancestors; and the...

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On February 4, 2001, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published an article about a newly formed interfaith group among Jewish, Lutheran, Unitarian, Roman Catholic, and Episcopal clergy from Pittsburgh's northern suburbs. Rabbi Art Donsky hosts the meeting of the group once a month at his synagogue, Temple Ohav Shalom in McCandless, Pennsylvania. "'It's a really great opportunity for people of different faith traditions to be in dialogue with one another,' said the Rev. Duane Morford, senior pastor at the Ingomar United Methodist...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On February 3, 2001, the Los Angeles Times published an article on the First German United Methodist Church in Los Angeles. "On Sunday, anywhere from 50 to 80 people fill the small church to hear pastor Thomas Hildebrandt offer services almost entirely in German--a tradition, unique among United Methodist churches in the United States, that has spanned nearly 125 years...Members say the church remains a monument to their rich German heritage...Although German immigration slowed decades ago, First German remains a gathering place...

Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

On February 2, 2001, The San Diego Union-Tribune published an article by Jim VandeHei of The Wall Street Journal on President Bush's new faith-based initiative. "In many ways, these moves simply advance a trend, visible in both parties and on display in Bush's early days in office, toward a more open acknowledgment of the role religion plays in public life." VandeHei described the InnerChange program in Texas, which Bush sees "as a model of the sort of thing he would like to see spread across the country...It...

Source: USA TODAY

On February 2, 2001, USA TODAY reported on the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Florida, which claims to "transport" visitors to the ancient Middle East. Its 15 acres include a replica of the temple of King Herod, a cement copy of the Qumran Caves, where ancient Jews stashed the Dead Sea Scrolls, a palm-tree grove mimicking the Via Dolorosa, the path to Jesus' crucifixion, a Jerusalem City Gate, and "Calvary's Garden Tomb, where [people dressed as ancient Israelites] celebrate the resurrection of Christ." Costumed dramatists tell Old and...