Source: St. Petersburg Times

On February 10, 2003 the St. Petersburg Times reported that "Pawan K. Rattan looked around the Hindu temple during an interfaith memorial service Sunday for the crew of space shuttle Columbia and noticed Jews, Indians and Christians in the crowd...The crew of Columbia's last mission, which included an Israeli, an Indian and five American-born astronauts, was a 'flight of a rainbow of cultures...' More than 100 people went to the Hindu Temple of Florida on Lynn Road to celebrate that diversity... For Rabbi Eric Lazar, the...

Source: The Oregonian

http://www.oregonlive.com/regional/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/1044709371247310.xml

On February 9, 2003 The Oregonian reported that "during his seven years as a Medford [OR] resident, motel owner Nick Patel has always bragged to friends that he could leave his doors unlocked... But following a half dozen recent hate crimes, including a brash attack last week on a motel clerk from India who was mistaken for an...

Source: The Morning Call

On February 9, 2003 The Morning Call reported that "n India, the celebration of the Saraswati Puja is so widely marked that schools close for the day and Hindu families gather at temple for hours of worship and feasting... Indian-Americans relegate the celebration to a Saturday, when schools are already closed. But as festivities at the Hindu Temple Society in [New Jersey's] Hanover Township, Lehigh County, this weekend showed, the customs still observed on this continent manage to preserve the day as something special... In Hindu...

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On February 7, 2003 The Columbus Dispatch reported that "a Hindu temple yesterday closed its deal to buy evangelist Leroy Jenkins' Healing Waters Cathedral for $1.3 million... The purchase will give the Yogi Divine Society, based in New Jersey, room for up to 800 followers in central Ohio and adjacent states... The deal includes 9 acres on S. Sandusky Street on Delaware's south side that has been owned by the Leroy Jenkins Evangelical Association for 33 years, said Gloria Rose, a real-estate agent with the Gilbert Group, a...

Source: The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/news/s_116205.html

On February 5, 2003 The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that "Kalpana Chawla, 41, was born in Karnal, India, and later became an American citizen. She was the first Indian-American woman to fly into space... Prayers were offered and moments of silence observed Saturday and yesterday at all three Hindu temples in Penn Hills and Monroeville."

Source: Beliefnet

Source: Sun and Weekly Hearld

http://www.sun-herald.com/NewsArchive2/020303/tp1ch11.htm?date=020303&story=tp1ch11.htm

On February 3, 2003 the Sun and Weekly Hearld reported that "across Florida and around the world, people of many faiths offered prayers Sunday for the victims of a space tragedy that transcends doctrines... It would be hard to assemble a more diverse group: five men, two women; five white, one black, one East Indian;...

Source: The Associated Press

Source: Palm Beach Post

http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/today/news_e3d3af3f

On February 3, 2003 the Palm Beach Post reported that "as the pictures of the space shuttle, its crew and Indian-American astronaut Kalpana Chawla flashed on a screen at a [Palm Beach, FL] Hindu temple, 27-year-old Priti Patel had such mixed feelings... Although many Indians knew before the accident that Chawla was the first astronaut born in India,...

Source: The Honolulu Advertiser

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Feb/01/il/il15afaith.html

On February 1, 2003 The Honolulu Advertiser reported on the "the Kaunakakai temple, [which] is the only Buddhist temple on that island, said the Rev. Shugen Komagata, senior minister for the Nu'uanu betsuin... Built in 1952 and dedicated in 1953, it is styled like a Hindu temple, with small towers on both wings and a 70-foot tower in the center...

Source: The Sun-Times

On January 30, 2003 The Sun-Times reported that "an order of Hindu monks that has maintained a moanstery in Chicago's Hyde Park since the late 1960's is planning to relocate to the southwest suburbs and build an ashram on 15 acres of wooded land. The Vivekananda Vedanta Society of Hyde Park, home to four swamis of the Rama Krishna Order. is buying the property at 147th and Lemont Road."

Source: swissinfo

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/census-reveals-shift-away-from-religion/3139170

On January 30, 2003 swissinfo reported, "The religious landscape in Switzerland has undergone a sea change, with a growing number of people moving away...

Source: The Boston Globe

On January 28, 2003 The Boston Globe reported that "at the Capitol in Washington, amid all the pomp and circumstance that Congress can muster, President Bush is expected to lay out his case tonight for a possible war... At the same time, at Boston's storied Trinity Church, leaders of many of the state's religious traditions will be gathering in their full liturgical finery to make their own case, for peace... Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, [organized] tonight's religious event, at which...

Source: Tolerance.org

http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_hate.jsp?id=685

On January 23, 2003 Tolerance.org reported that "the latest edition of Maxim magazine, in an alleged 'humor' article headlined 'Maxim’s Kick-Ass Workout,' depicts a strapping man in a 'Muscle' T-shirt beating up an image of Mahatma Gandhi... 'My first reaction is, ‘How stupid.’ My next reaction is, ‘How sad,' said Michelle Naef, administrator of the M.K. Gandhi...

Source: Deseret News

[deseret.com/archives/2003/1]

On January 18, 2003 the Deseret News reported that "little more than a stone's throw from the comparative behemoth that Latter-day Saints know as the Jordan River Temple, the Sri Ganesha Temple will serve a growing Hindu population along the Wasatch Front, not only as a place of worship, but as a community gathering place. While the two temples are worlds apart in the mode and practice of their religious worship, both provide a focal point for the highest ideals their...