Author: Judyth Piazza

Source: News Blaze

http://newsblaze.com/story/20061201142620tsop.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/Top-Stories.html

As the demographics of the U.S. military have changed in recent years, the military has become more intent on facilitating religious practices of all of its members.

Chief Master Sergeant Aphrodite Kafka, an Orthodox Christian, who has served in the Air Force for decades, has seen...

Author: Deepti Hajela

Source: The Shreveport Times

Wire Service: AP

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061210/LIVING/612100310/1004/LIVING

NEW YORK -- Christmas morning is a bonanza for my nephews and nieces, box after box from loving aunts, uncles and grandfolk. I love watching them open all the gifts, but I have to admit to a twinge of envy, even now...

Author: Pamela K. Taylor

Source: The American Muslim

http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/the_elephant_in_the_room_at_the_wise_conference/0012228

Attending the WISE conference organized by the ASMA society in late November was a tremendous experience. It was humbling to be sitting next to women from around the globe who had done so much, spoken out so fearlessly, and risked...

Author: Glenn Lovell

Source: The Mercury News

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2006/12/11/christmas-back-in-stores/

The battle over Christmas in major retail stores across America was fought, and Christmas has won -- at least for now.

After last year's...

Author: Rebecca Rakoczy

Source: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

http://www.ajc.com/search/content/living/faithandvalues/stories/2006/12/09/relinterfaith1209a.html

A candle is lit. A brass bowl is struck. The ringing sound echoes in a simple cinder-block office as eight women of different beliefs -- including a "fallen-away" Catholic, a secular humanist and an agnostic -- contemplate what they're grateful...

Source: The Courier News

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,20893705-5003402,00.html#

A MULTICULTURAL festival promoting religious harmony among Sydney youths will be held on the eve of the first anniversary of the Cronulla riot.

The Summer Youth Festival takes place at Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour, and will feature food stalls, folk and hip-hop music, lion dancing, drumming workshops, live art, chanting, art exhibitions and...

Source: Boston Herald

Wire Service: AP

http://news.bostonherald.com/international/view.bg?articleid=171107

LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair stoked a simmering debate over religious tolerance and cultural assimilation on Friday, saying it was the duty of all immigrants to integrate into British society.

Blair announced plans to more carefully allocate funding to faith groups, saying grants would no longer be awarded...

Source: Muslim Public Affairs Council

http://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:2785.450259202/rid:4f7eb1eb0b432aa8d45eed8b3cb021e9

(Los Angeles - 12/8/06) -- Moving beyond the ongoing crisis in the Middle East which often puts Muslim and Jewish Americans at odds, the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and the Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA) are launching "NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change" -- an...

Author: MARK LANDLER

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/world/europe/08mosque.html?ref=europe

MUNICH — Helga Schandl says she has nothing against Muslims. For three decades, she worked in Munich’s wholesale food market, where many of her colleagues were immigrants from Turkey. “I have experienced integration firsthand,” she said.

Yet Mrs. Schandl, a 67-year-old Bavarian,...

Source: Luton Today

Author: Jerome Eric Copulsky

Source: The Martin Marty Center

http://marty-center.uchicago.edu/sightings/archive_2006/1207.shtml

Last Friday, Barack Obama, the charismatic junior senator from Illinois and possible Democratic presidential hopeful, made news by speaking at an AIDS conference at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church, one of the flagships of contemporary evangelicalism. To an audience of more than 2,000 evangelical leaders, the...

Source: The Peninsula

Wire Service: Reuters

http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Rest+of+the+World&month=December2006&file=World_News2006120725651.xml

Kuala Lumpur • Malaysia sought to defuse religious tensions yesterday, asking the state’s top lawyer to investigate the case of a hospital that had...

Author: Mustafa Akyol

Source: Turkish Daily News

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=61126

The visit by Pope Benedict XVI has sparked a new debate in Turkey about the rightful limits of religious ecumenism. The Turkish media have been discussing whether a Muslim cleric can revere Christian symbols like the sign of the cross, and whether it is really necessary to be so accommodating in order to establish genuine religious...

Source: Hindu Press International/Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism Press Release

http://www.hinduismtoday.com/hpi/2006/12/7.shtml#2

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA--Mr. R. Thiagarja, Honorary Secretary General Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism, sends the following press release:

"The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism...

Source: Catholic Online

http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=22247

SYDNEY, Australia – The right to a safe ecological environment is a universal right and Catholics are called to respond with resolute action to the reality of global warming, said the Catholic bishops of Australia.

The Catholic bishops joined with religious leaders from 15 other Australian faith communities to demand stronger individual,...