Author: Joshua Mitnick

Source: The Washington Times

http://washingtontimes.com/article/20071226/FOREIGN/553402321

About 40 Jews who left Iran in secret arrived in Israel yesterday — one of the largest such defections — and got a Christmas present of $10,000 per person from U.S. evangelicals.

The number of Iranian-Jewish emigrants to Israel more than tripled to 200 in 2007, according to officials from the Jewish Agency...

Author: Candice Williams

Source: The Detroit News

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071226/METRO02/712260377/1041/LIFESTYLE04

WEST BLOOMFIELD -- Masha Silver and her dog, a friendly Tiberian terrier named Golani, spent Christmas visiting the residents of Regent Street Assisted Living Center.

The residents had a chance to pet Golani, a therapy dog trained to provide affection, as...

Author: MARTHA C. WHITE

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/25/business/25religion.html?_r=1&ex=1199250000&en=1fd400c02b7461fa&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin

Being away from family is an everyday occupational hazard for business travelers, but trips that mean missing a holiday at home — by design or by delay — are all the more vexing.

...

Author: Michael Conlon

Source: Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1431156020071224

Muslims and Jews, a tiny slice of the U.S. population, are looking for new ways to get along that could set a worldwide example for two ancient but often alienated faiths, religious leaders and experts say.

"I've encountered (among Muslims) a more centrist, a more moderate voice that is looking to the Jewish community to help project...

Author: Catherine Jun

Source: The Detroit News

[detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071224/LIFESTYLE04/712240346/1041/LIFESTYLE04]

NORTHVILLE -- For years, Malik Ankouny's parents took great pains to make it look as if Santa had descended on their house on Christmas Eve. They took bites out of carrots set out for Santa's reindeer and drew sleigh tracks in the snow with a hockey stick. In this, the Ankounys are not very different from other American families trying to make Christmas a magical...

Author: Abdul Malik Mujahid

Source: The American Muslim

http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/treating_christmas_with_respect1/0015318

Christmas is an annual Christian religious holiday commemorating the birth of Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him. For many Muslims who even do not celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, it becomes an issue of what stand they...

Author: ANN MARIE SOMMA

Source: The Courant

[courant.com/news/local/hc-ctislam1223.artdec23,0,929090.story]

Drivers traveling west on I-84 are invited to turn east — toward Mecca.

A billboard promoting Islam near the Cheshire exit, and only a short distance from the construction of what will be the largest mosque in the state, encourages drivers to call a toll-free number to learn about the world's second largest religion.
 

Author: Alphonso Van Marsh

Source: CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/12/23/faith.base/index.html

In the waning sunlight hour of a chilly winter afternoon, a chorus of Hebrew prayer rises from a small, fluorescent lit room on the outskirts of Baghdad.

Friday sunset marks Sabbath, or Shabbat, for observant Jews at U.S. Army Camp Striker, Iraq.

Leading the Shabbat service is Chaplain Andrew Shulman, one of just...

Author: Emily Darrow

Source: www.bard.edu

http://www.bard.edu/news/releases/pr/fstory.php?id=1385

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The Religion Program at Bard College presents the seminar “Mapping the World Religions in the Hudson Valley” on Friday, December 21. The free program is held from 9:30 a.m. to noon in Preston Hall.

Author: Jane Lampman

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1220/p13s03-lire.html

For some 60 years, attempts to craft a lasting peace for the Holy Land have fallen woefully short. As a new round of Israeli-Palestinian talks gets under way, some leaders from the region are insisting that it's time to include a religious dimension in the peace process.

It is the Holy Land, after all, they say, with history and...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Economist

http://economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10311317&CFID=727173&CFTOKEN=101adbcc08e997bb-FCFA6C16-B27C-BB00-0143EC0AF3150320

CHRISTIANS and Muslims have one striking thing in common: they are both “people of the book”. And they both have an obligation to spread the Word—to...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Hinduism Today/newsoneair.com

http://www.hinduismtoday.com/hpi/2007/12/20.shtml#2

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has said he will look into ethnic Indians' demand for setting up a separate department for Non-Muslim affairs in the country. Mr. Abdullah said in Kuala Lumpur that there are already various government committees and panels in existence that look after the affairs of non-Muslims in this multi-ethnic,...

Author: Alastair Lawson

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7149916.stm

A Muslim Bangladeshi student is to be honoured by the mayor of New York on Wednesday for helping three Jewish people who were being beaten up.

Hassan Askari has been described as a "latter-day Good Samaritan" for coming to the aid of the three, who were attacked earlier this month.

Author: Mike Hoeft

Source: Green Bay Press Gazette

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071217/GPG0101/71217010/1206/GPGnews

Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt has declared a moratorium on any more religious displays atop a City Hall overhang until the City Council can take up the issue at Tuesday’s meeting.

With a pagan Wiccan wreath knocked off the roof by a...

Author: Sandi Dolbee

Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20071216-9999-1m16faith.html

AN DIEGO – In what is being described as the first such effort of its kind, two major Jewish and Muslim groups will launch “serious education programs” in the United States and Canada aimed at bridging a divide formed from centuries of animosity over land, politics and religion.
...