Interfaith

Mixed Reactions to Funding of Faith-Based Organizations

February 12, 2001

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

On February 12, 2001, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that in a recent speech about black history at a Chicago church, the Rev. Jesse Jackson "issued warnings about faith-based social service programs funded by the government...[He said the] 'church must not...compromise its independence.'"

Mixed Reactions to Funding of Faith-Based Organizations

February 11, 2001

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On February 11, 2001, The Houston Chronicle reported that "social-service leaders and the legal watchdogs who monitor them" are threatening to sue "faith-based groups that take the federal dollars President Bush is touting...Civil-liberties groups would be most likely to sue over allegations of religious coercion of social-service clients or over discriminatory hiring practices among those agencies that seek employees from their own faith." A leader from one of these groups predicts 20 to 30 lawsuits across the country, which...

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Op-Ed Articles Respond to Bush's Faith-Based Initiative

February 11, 2001

Source: Los Angeles Times

On February 11, 2001, the Los Angeles Times published a piece by Judith F. Daar, a professor of law at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California, in which she criticized Bush's new faith-based proposal. Daar writes, "I am concerned that no longer will separation of church and state mean the government cannot fund religious organizations' missions to preach the tenets of their faith. Instead, separation could merely require that in so proselytizing, religious groups must also lend a helping hand to the downtrodden. To say that...

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Op-Ed Articles Respond to Bush's Faith-Based Initiative

February 11, 2001

Source: Los Angeles Times

On February 11, 2001, the Los Angeles Times published an op-ed piece by Judith F. Daar, a professor of law at Whittier Law School in, Costa Mesa, California, in which she criticized Bush's new faith-based initiative. She sees a trend in the Bush administration of disregarding the First Amendment regarding the separation of church and state. "From the multiple utterances of God and Jesus in the inaugural ceremonies to removing funding for international family planning organizations, we have seen President Bush's own faith dictate...

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Bush Appoints Minister to Faith Office

February 10, 2001

Source: The Boston Globe

On February 10, 2001, The Boston Globe reported that "the Rev. Mark Scott of Dorchester[ Mass.] was appointed yesterday to coordinate community outreach in President Bush's new Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Scott, 38, is the director of the Ella J. Baker House, a faith-based home that provides educational and other services to troubled teenagers. Scott will be responsible for identifying social ministries and community groups around the country that could be candidates for federal funds to fight poverty...[He]...

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Both Christianity and Shamanism Represented in Hmong Community

February 10, 2001

Source: Star Tribune

On February 10, 2001, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that, among the Hmong community in the Twin Cities, some have embraced Christianity over the past 50 years, "but many have remained faithful to the traditional faith, shamanism...The Hmong are a farming people who live in mountainous ranges in Southeast Asia and southern China. Refugees began immigrating to the United States in the 1970s, after the Vietnam War ended...Today, about 11 percent of the estimated 75,000 to 80,000 Hmong in the Twin Cities are Christian, according to...

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Award Dinner Moved to Allow Pagans

February 10, 2001

Source: Akron Beacon Journal

http://www.ohio.com/communities/akron/moreabout/2001/February/10/docs/000442.htm

On February 10, 2001, The Akron Beacon Journal published an article entitled, "Pagans are grateful for understanding." "Pagans praise the decision by the Akron Area Interfaith Council to move dinner rather than cut the pagan singing group from the program...Following objections from the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, the...

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Mixed Reactions to Funding of Faith-Based Organizations

February 10, 2001

Source: The New York Times

On February 10, 2001, The New York Times reported that "the day after President Bush established the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, John J. DiIulio Jr., its first director, attended a public discussion of his new office at the National Press Club in Washington...The discussion (a full transcript is available at http://pewforum.org/events/0130/) revealed some of the fundamental differences in perspective dividing supporters and opponents of 'faith-based...

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Use of Jesus' Name in Bush's Inauguration Discussed

February 10, 2001

Source: The Washington Post

On February 10, 2001, The Washington Post published an article on the responses it received to a question it posed in January: "Should religious leaders and laypeople who pray in public use only universal terms such as 'Almighty God' and 'Lord'? Or should they offer their customary prayers?...Of the 194 readers who responded...104 said that only universal language should be used in prayers [at public occasions]. Sixty-eight people supported specific references to Jesus, Allah, Krishna or other deities, and 22 opposed public...

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U.S. Responds to Earthquake in India

February 8, 2001

Source: The Boston Herald

On February 8, 2001, The Boston Herald reported that "the local Indian community plans to adopt families, villages and schools in the earthquake-ravaged Gujarat region and target donations and long-term support...The groups decided to pool their efforts in order to get the most for each dollar raised...The meeting of 22 Indian social organizations in Cambridge Sunday brought together Hindus, Moslems, Jains and Sikhs, and people from diverse Indian regions and ethnic groups." One local group, Hindu Swayansewak Sangh, has raised...

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U.S. Responds to Earthquake in India

February 5, 2001

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On February 5, 2001, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported on the response of metro Atlanta's Indian faith communities to the earthquake in Gujarat. Many members of the the Bochasanwasi Swaminarayan Sanstha Hindu Temple in Clarkston, Georgia, "are channeling their energy toward BAPS Care International, a nonprofit relief organization that is providing food, shelter and medical aid to tens of thousands of the tragedy's survivors." A community prayer service at BAPS, drew more than 1,000 members of this...

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Mixed Reactions to Funding of Faith-Based Organizations

February 4, 2001

Source: The New York Times

On February 4, 2001, The New York Times published an article about the public's reception of Bush's new faith-based initiative. "Many Americans are indeed enthusiastic about stepping up government support to religious programs...But, as polls indicate, across the political spectrum Americans are wary of anything that appears to tamper with the First Amendment... [Americans] are instinctively uncomfortable when their government appears to promote one religion over another, or allows discrimination based on religion, or interferes...

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Native Americans Find Value in Indian Radio Stations

February 4, 2001

Source: The New York Times

On February 4, 2001, The New York Times published an article on Indian radio stations. Indian country just celebrated its first radio station, KUYI-FM, in First Mesa, Ariz. The new station is significant in part because it "can give news to elderly Hopi that can't speak English." In addition, the birth of the station represents "another triumph over difficult conditions in an industry that ignores Indian broadcasting. KUYI (88.1 FM) is just the 30th American Indian radio station in the United States." KUYI serves a remote...

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Jewish and Christian Clergy Form Interfaith Group

February 4, 2001

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On February 4, 2001, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published an article about a newly formed interfaith group among Jewish, Lutheran, Unitarian, Roman Catholic, and Episcopal clergy from Pittsburgh's northern suburbs. Rabbi Art Donsky hosts the meeting of the group once a month at his synagogue, Temple Ohav Shalom in McCandless, Pennsylvania. "'It's a really great opportunity for people of different faith traditions to be in dialogue with one another,' said the Rev. Duane Morford, senior pastor at the Ingomar United Methodist...

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American Buddhist Teacher Talks about Buddhism in America

February 3, 2001

Source: The Boston Globe

On February 3, 2001, The Boston Globe published an interview of Lama Surya Das. Born into a Jewish family on Long Island as Jeffrey Miller, "Surya Das, who lives in Concord, has studied Buddhism for three decades with teachers including the Dalai Lama, and he has become a Buddhist teacher himself." In the interview Surya Das answered how his message differs from that of an Asian Buddhist teacher: "I'm trying to make Buddhism more accessible to Westerners. So I'm less monastic, emphasizing seclusion less and integration in daily life...

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