Author: Angelique Walker-Smith

Source: IndyStar

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061213/OPINION01/612130368/-1/ZONES04

Have you heard? It's official. Christmas is back at Wal-Mart.

The specific mention of Christmas is no longer persona non grata within the array of the many holidays retailed at this time of year. But for many people of faith, the retailing of holy seasons like...

Author: LOIS E. BECKETT and EVAN H. JACOBS

Source: The Harvard Crimson

http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=516372

The task force charged with replacing Harvard’s Core curriculum has dropped its headline-grabbing proposal for a “Reason and Faith” requirement - a category that would have made Harvard the only Ivy to require its undergrads to study religion.

The committeehas also suggested a new course requirement on...

Source: Ekklesia

http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/news_syndication/article_061212rom.shtml

Churches in Romania have denounced calls from an anti-discrimination body for a French-style ban on religious symbols from schools in order to protect the state's secular character and ensure "freedom of conscience" for pupils - Jonathan Luxmoore for Ecumenical News International.

"The presence of religious symbols in schools is not the result of an...

Author: Martin Marty

Source: Sightings

http://marty-center.uchicago.edu/sightings/archive_2006/1211.shtml

Two events this season led me to go back to the Sightings archive, to a column dated October 29, 2001 ("Listening to Lactantius"). Giving evidence of our passion always to be current, we cited Lactantius from the years 302 and 303, because what he wrote then spoke so directly to current affairs. Incident one here is the flap over...

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: Jonathan Tilove

Source: Pew Forum

Wire Service: RNS

http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=12156

The new Congress will, for the first time, include a Muslim, two Buddhists, more Jews than Episcopalians, and the highest-ranking Mormon in congressional history.

Roman Catholics remain the largest single faith group in Congress, accounting for 29 percent of all members of the House and Senate, followed...

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6167695.stm

Iran's foreign minister has rejected criticism of a two-day conference being held in Iran to examine whether the Holocaust actually happened.

Manouchehr Mottaki told participants the event did not seek to confirm or deny the Holocaust, but rather to allow people to "express their views freely".

Israel's prime minister has condemned the gathering as "a sick phenomenon".

President...

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,...