Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On June 8, 2001, The Columbus Dispatch reported that "the American Civil Liberties Union said...that it won't take its challenge of Ohio's motto -- 'With God, All Things Are Possible' -- to the U. S. Supreme Court. Winning the 4-year-old case, ACLU officials said, seemed improbable...The ACLU sued the state in 1997 on behalf of the Rev. Matthew Peterson, a minister of Fairmount Presbyterian Church in Cleveland Heights, charging that the motto improperly links government with religion."

Source: The Morning Call

On June 8, 2001, The Morning Call reported that "the Bnai Abraham Synagogue in Wilson [Pennsylvania] is host to a guest Sabbath service. The program gives [seven Lutheran pastors] the chance to participate in the synagogue's weekly service and for members of local Jewish and Lutheran congregations to learn about each other's faith."

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

On June 8, 2001, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that "clergy, law enforcement officials and families of gunshot victims [will] try to bring home the hard realities of violence by mounting Milwaukee County's first 'Ceasefire Sabbath.' More than 60 churches, synagogues and mosques will hold services or events where lay and ordained speakers will talk about the need to curb gun violence."

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On June 7, 2001, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported on "the Davis Academy students who held a rally last week to protest a Taliban requirement that minority Hindus wear yellow armbands to distinguish them from Muslims." Davis is a Reform Jewish school in Atlanta.

Source: The Star-Ledger

http://www.njo.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/elections/ledger/137a647.html

On June 7, 2001, The Star-Ledger reported on Bret Schundler, a Republican candidate for governor of New Jersey. "Schundler was the keynote speaker at an April 28 gathering of the American Muslim Alliance's New Jersey chapter...He shared the podium with AMA President Agha Saeed...In addition to Saeed, several other...

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

On June 7, 2001, The Christian Science Monitor reported that "religious groups are responding [to Bush's policies] in active voice...seeking to bring shared moral concerns to bear on a range of public issues...A group of 165 Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish, and Buddhist clergy recently formed Religious Witness for the Earth to urge action on global warming, oppose drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, and seek a conservation-friendly energy policy."

Source: Los Angeles Times

On June 6, 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported that "a landmark Muslim-Jewish dialogue group in Los Angeles has stopped meeting after Islamic leaders requested a freeze amid outrage in their community over Israeli behavior in the Mideast...Muslims complained that they felt they were expected to...condemn Palestinian violence without Jews doing the same for Israeli excesses. Jewish leaders expressed frustration that Muslims were not self-critical enough." Five Jewish leaders sent a letter to the senior advisor to the Muslim council...

Source: The Washington Post

On June 6, 2001, The Washington Post reported that "President Bush today struck back at critics of his plan to fund religious charities, saying that opponents 'don't understand the power of faith' and suggesting that they would cut off popular efforts such as the Habitat for Humanity home-building program...The targets of Bush's criticism reacted angrily...And Habitat for Humanity's founder and president...said...that his organization is thriving under current law," which allows the organization to use government funds to buy...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On June 6, 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported that "ABC News signed an editorial partnership agreement with Beliefnet, an ecumenical Web site devoted to religion and spirituality, to conduct joint polling and co-produce reports, even as it said its religion beat reporter will leave the network...Executive Vice President Paul Friedman said ABC News isn't giving up its commitment to covering religion."

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On June 5, 2001, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that "worn down by eight months of violence that shows no sign of easing, many Israelis and Palestinians [and Arab Christians] are packing their bags for the United States or Canada... Many of the people leaving are moderates who want peace... The Jews who are leaving [reportedly] feel guilty...that they are abandoning the country that was created to provide Jews a safe haven."

Source: The Plain Dealer

On June 4, 2001, The Plain Dealer reported that "Northeast Ohio Episcopal, Catholic and Lutheran bishops...put aside centuries of enmity to sign a historic covenant pledging to work together in matters of faith and public policy...The covenant does declare that the three churches here share belief in fundamental areas of Christian faith...The three groups pledge to...collaborate in educational and training programs, share liturgical practices and cooperate in social service, advocacy, community development and organizing and social-...

Source: The Washington Post

On June 4, 2001, The Washington Post reported that "in 1998, two Elkhart [Indiana] residents, aided by the Indiana Civil Liberties Union (ICLU), filed a lawsuit demanding the removal of" a monument in front of city hall that lists the Ten Commandments, on the grounds that it violated the separation of church and state. "Mayor David Miller...led the petition drive and helped design bumper stickers to save the monument. The issue was constantly on the front page of the local paper...Miller, 44, has made it a personal crusade to...

Source: The Boston Globe

On June 3, 2001, The Boston Globe reported on Dave Bernier, a farmer in the Berkshires. "His goats, in accordance with Muslim religious law, pass their days without stress, feeding on grass, and when the time comes to slaughter them, Bernier sometimes accompanies them to the slaughterhouse to keep watch while Allah's name is pronounced and the animals' jugular veins are cut...his new habits are guided by business sense: At the end of the day, he's working for the imam." Bernier is one of 65 farmers who met in Blandford "to explore a...

Source: The New York Times

On June 2, 2001, The New York Times reported that a group of militant Hindus in Queens and Long Island and a group of radical Jews in Brooklyn "have discovered that sharing a distant enemy is sufficient basis for friendship. So tight is their anti-Muslim bond that some of the Hindus marched alongside the Jews in the annual Salute to Israel Parade on Fifth Avenue...Several of the Jews joined a protest outside the United Nations against the treatment of Hindus in Afghanistan by the Taliban regime."

Source: The Dallas Morning News

On June 2, 2001, The Dallas Morning News reported on Harvard University professor Diana Eck, founder of "the Pluralism Project, an effort to study and document the growing religious diversity of the United States. In a CD-ROM and on a Web site, Dr. Eck and her Harvard students have inventoried the spectrum of American religion and recorded stories of minority faiths in the United States...In 1998, President Bill Clinton awarded her the National...