Author: David Willey

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6958299.stm

Authorities in Rome have refused to allow a building next to a Catholic church to be converted into a mosque.

The planned mosque, in a densely populated and multi-ethnic quarter in the centre of the Italian capital, was supposed to open next month.

Municipal police said the community of Bengali Muslims who were carrying out the building works did not...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: UCA News

http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=25097

JAKARTA, Indonesia (UCAN) – Eighteen religious leaders representing Buddhism, Catholicism, Confucianism, Islam and Protestantism have issued a joint message calling for the nation to maintain pluralism.

They released the statement on Aug. 18 following their meeting held to mark the country's 62nd Independence...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Haaretz

Wire Service: AP

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/895796.html

U.S. Rabbi Michael Feinberg defended a planned Arab school in New York on Monday, despite charges by a state legislator that the school could teach anti-Israeli extremism.

Addressing a rally in front of the New York Department of Education, Rabbi Feinberg called on elected officials to come forward in support of...

Author: Staff Reporter

Source: CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/17/albright.qa/index.html?iref=newssearch

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- As U.S. secretary of state under former President Clinton, Madeleine Albright invested long hours in the Middle East peace process. She wrote about the relationship between politics and religion in her 2006 book, "The Mighty and the Almighty."

CNN producer Jen Christensen recently spoke with...

Author: Jeff Wright

Source: The Register-Guard

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2007/08/20/c1.cr.interfaith.0820.p1.php?section=cityregion

Is there such a thing as too much tolerance?

It's a question University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer and others will explore at an interfaith community breakfast on the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Frohnmayer will explore "...

Author: TOM MEAGHER

Source: Herald News

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzNTcmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcxODQzMjYmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkz

TEANECK -- In most cases in recent years, when a community event for Muslims happened, it would be held by Arabs for Arabs. Or by Pakistanis for Pakistanis. Or by African-Americans for African-...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/17/jews.christians/index.html

MELBOURNE, Florida (CNN) -- Sondra Oster Baras is an Orthodox Jew doing an unorthodox job.

"If you had asked me 10 years ago what I would be doing with my life, I don't think I would have told you I'd be in church," she said.

Baras stumps for money from evangelical Christians to support Jewish settlements in the...

Author: Keith O'Brien

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/08/18/adl_local_leader_fired_on_armenian_issue/

The national Anti-Defamation League fired its New England regional director yesterday, one day after he broke ranks with national ADL leadership and said the human rights organization should acknowledge the Armenian genocide that began in...

Author: Sandy Mazza

Source: DailyBreeze.com

http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/9234236.html

Hundreds of men and women left their shoes at the door and bowed for the weekly Friday afternoon prayer at the Islamic Center of Hawthorne.

The service was a typical one - adults and children were consumed in prayer for about an hour. Some teens hung around outside the mosque, discussing basketball and the popular reality TV show, "American...

Author: Gary Weiss

Source: Forbe's

http://www.forbes.com/2007/08/05/india-jews-antisemitism-oped-cx_gw_0813jews.html

There's no question that India's secularism is under strain. Militant Hinduism remains as much a potent force as extremist Islam. The ongoing bloodletting in Kashmir is an open sore, and the periodic spasms of communal violence in Gujarat, combined with memories of the Mumbai bombings of 2006, have led to...

Author: Jeremy Grange

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6948034.stm

A special phone service linking Israelis and Palestinians, called Hello Peace, has facilitated nearly a million telephone conversations since it began operating in November 2000.

As we sit talking in his office in a Jerusalem apartment block, graphic designer Rami Elhanan pauses for a moment, deep in thought, recalling the day his life...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0816/p08s02-comv.html

In much of the world, religion – not ideology – is the prime motivator propelling people and events, often leading to violence. Congress had a sense of that a decade ago when it began considering how the US might better promote religious freedom and tolerance in its foreign policy. It's a subject worth revisiting.

What...

Author: JOHN THORNE

Source: ABC News

Wire Service: AP

http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3489657

The U.S. State Department chose a novel way to publicize baseball legend Cal Ripken Jr.'s appointment this week as its special sports envoy. It went on YouTube.

Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes, who appears in the video, said Thursday it was part of her campaign...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Fox News

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293394,00.html

A proposal by a Roman Catholic bishop in the Netherlands that people of all faiths refer to God as "Allah" is not sitting well with the Catholic community.

Tiny Muskens, an outgoing bishop who is retiring in a few weeks from the southern diocese of Breda, said God doesn't care what he is called.

"Allah is a very beautiful word for God....

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The New York Times

Wire Service: AP

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/16/world/europe/16convert.html

GENEVA, Aug. 15 — Evangelical Protestant churches have joined an effort by Roman Catholic, Orthodox and other Protestant churches to create a common code of conduct for religious conversions to preserve the right of Christians to spread their religion while avoiding conflict...