Source: The Navajo Times

http://www.thenavajotimes.com/National/national.html

On June 28, 2001, The Navajo Times reported that it is only possible to have a Navajo in the U.S. Congress and to have Navajos and Hopis working together "if the Navajo Nation is put into a single congressional and legislative voting district, area citizens told the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission. As part of a statewide effort to solicit public...

Source: The Washington Post

On June 28, 2001, The Washington Post published an editorial by George Will in which he wrote about John Street, who, "as mayor,...has made Philadelphia the foremost laboratory for what President Bush calls 'faith-based initiatives.'... Every day approximately 20,000 students...are unexcused absentees from among Philadelphia's 214,000 public school students. So the plan is for every absent student's household to receive a taped call from the mayor -- his voice -- noting the child's absence, and for volunteers from faith-...

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On June 28, 2001, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that "legislation mirroring President Bush's faith-based initiative moves forward today after the White House and lawmakers reached an agreement on constitutional concerns. The full House Judiciary Committee will vote on whether to recommend" the bill. "The legislation...has been altered to strengthen the wall between church and state."

Source: The American Muslim Council

On June 28, 2001, the American Muslim Council issued a press release reporting that, "Following...the unexpected removal of Abdallah Al-Arian, a 20-year-old college senior and intern...from a...meeting to brief the American Muslim leadership on the President's Faith and Community Based Initiative, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer reported that: 'The President is very concerned that an action was taken that was wrong, inappropriate and the President apologizes for it on behalf of the White House.' Although we...

Source: Star Tribune

On June 28, 2001, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that "more than 3,000 visitors assemble in Minneapolis... for the National Conference on Community Volunteering and National Service...Much discussion during their conference will focus on the role of religion in the nonprofit sector." The topic has been much discussed since Bush introduced his faith-based initiative.

Source: Pew Charitable Trusts

Source: The Times Union

On June 28, 2001, The Times Union reported on the Grafton Peace Pagoda in Albany, New York. The pagoda is a "monument to peace developed after the horrors of war...[It] is a symbol of nonviolence that dates as far back as 2,000 years ago...There are two peace pagodas in the United States...A Japanese Buddhist nun, Jun Yasuda, is the reason the Grafton Peace Pagoda was built."

Source: Dayton Daily News

On June 28, 2001, the Dayton Daily News reported that Ashton McDaniel is the newly elected president of Church Women United in Greater Dayton. "Church Women United is an ecumenical movement of Christian women who witness to their faith through worship, study, action, celebration and global relationships." It is open to all denominations.

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On June 27, 2001, The San Francisco Chronicle reported that "the nation's Reform rabbis are expected to make major changes in conversion guidelines today by embracing, for the first time in 100 years, traditional rituals such as circumcision long required by the other two branches of Judaism."

Source: cair-net

On June 27, 2001, the Council on American-Islamic Relations reported that "Bret Schundler, the mayor of Jersey City, N.J., won the Republican nomination for governor..., defeating a former congressman in a race tainted by accusations of Islamophobia." Schundler had been criticized by the Anti-Defamation League for speaking at a meeting of the American Muslim Alliance on the grounds that AMA's leaders had challenged policies of the state of Israel. Schundler said that "he would be caving in to anti-Muslim bigotry if he shunned AMA representatives...

Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette

On June 27, 2001, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported that "the [Westboro, Massachusetts] Board of Selectmen...approved a menorah display for the downtown rotary in December, reversing its earlier position on the issue...Selectmen worried that allowing a menorah display would open it to any number of unwanted displays...Westboro Town Counsel Alan F. Dodd said in a report to selectmen last night that the town cannot forbid the free exchange of ideas at the rotary."

Source: The Seattle Times

On June 27, 2001, The Seattle Times reported that "students would be permitted to say nondisruptive prayers in the classroom, and Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny could be part of holiday displays in school hallways, under proposed policy changes that will be presented tonight to the Kent School Board. The changes would replace strict guidelines the district put into effect last fall," that drew objections from students, parents and others.

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

On June 27, 2001, The Christian Science Monitor reported that, "even if [Bush's faith-based initiative] makes it through a thicket of opposition in Congress, recent experience shows that synagogues, churches, and mosques are often reluctant to embark on social-service crusades, including government-funded ones...As one minister [said], 'With the government's shekels come the government's shackles.'"

Source: The Providence Journal-Bulletin

On June 26, 2001, The Providence Journal-Bulletin reported that "delegates to the Biennial Meeting of the American Baptist Churches-USA voted by a ratio of 4 to 1 to approve a statement highly critical of [Bush's faith-based initiative] but without enough votes to make it official...The debate [at the meeting] made clear that the issue of separation of church and state remains a fundamental concern for American Baptists."

Source: The New York Times

On June 26, 2001, The New York Times reported that "16 United States senators are at loggerheads with 18 bishops from various denominations...The senators...have urged the department to drop [an] enforcement effort, in which inspectors found wage violations at...51 poultry plants [and told the plants to pay $350 million in back wages]...But the religious leaders want the Labor Department to press ahead, saying the poultry workers need the government's protection."