Source: The Houston Chronicle

On January 29, 2001, The Houston Chronicle reported on the efforts of Houston-area Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims and Christians "to raise funds for victims of Friday's earthquake in the west Indian state of Gujarat...So far, the India Development...

Source: Council on American-Islamic Relations

On January 29, 2001, the Council on American-Islamic Relations expressed its support for President Bush's faith-based initiative program. CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said that "Muslim individuals and groups in cities around America work daily to provide free medical care, housing for the homeless and the abused, rehabilitation for prison inmates, as well as social services and relief for victims of natural disasters. In this vital work, the government should act as a supporter, not as an obstacle to overcome....

Source: Anti-Defamation League

http://www.adl.org/PresRele/Rel_ChStSep_90/3748_90_bush_letter.html

On January 29, 2001, the Anti-Defamation League wrote a letter to President Bush applauding his faith-based initiative, and asking him to "maintain essential constitutional safeguards for protecting both religious organizations and beneficiaries." The safeguards should protect beneficiaries from unwanted proselytizing, protect against government funding of...

Source: press release

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/briefings/20010129.html

On January 29, 2001, The White House issued a press release on the occasion of Bush's creation of the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, in which Ari Fleischer fielded questions from the press. Some of the questions brought up concerns about the initiative's constitutionality.

Source: Star Tribune

On January 29, 2001, the Minneapolis Star Tribune published a commentary by Alan Dershowitz on Franklin Graham's dedication of Bush's inauguration to Jesus Christ. Graham's "particularistic and parochial language," claimed Dershowitz, "excluded tens of millions of American Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Shintoists, Unitarians, agnostics and atheists from his blessing...The plain message conveyed by the new administration is that Bush's America is a Christian nation, and that non-Christians are welcome into the tent so long as they agree to...

Source: The New York Times

On January 29, 2001, The New York Times reported that "the diaspora kicked into high gear over the weekend, as Indian-Americans, reeling from the shock of calamity back home, scrambled to deliver relief to the earthquake-ravaged western Indian state of Gujarat." All over the U.S., Gujaratis took collections to send home as soon as possible, as they waited anxiously for news of relatives and friends. "Worshipers at temples of the Swami Narayan, a predominantly Gujarati Hindu sect, contacted their sister temples in Gujarat to send...

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On January 28, 2001, The Columbus Dispatch reported that "hundreds of central Ohioans this weekend are organizing prayers and fund-raisers to benefit victims of the Indian earthquake while they await news of family members living near the epicenter." 30 to 40 percent of Bharatiya Hindu Temple's 2,000 members have relatives in Gujarat state, the area hardest-hit by the earthquake. The 800 members of the Gujarat Mandal Association of Central Ohio spent the weekend calling India to learn what happened to their relatives. Special...

Source: The Times-Picayune

On January 28, 2001, The Times-Picayune reported on a workshop on Buddhist studies in the Covington-Mandeville area of Louisiana, which was led by meditator and Buddhist practitioner Ngawang Chotak, a former monk. "The focus was 'Eight Verses on Transforming the Mind,' which is one of the most important texts from a genre of Tibetan Buddhist spiritual writings...Chotak discussed ways to be equipped emotionally to deal with the ups and downs of life...Buddhist thought teaches that trials and tribulations are not what life's about,...

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On January 28, 2001, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that "the Rev. Larry Summerour knows that most people in [Chickamauga], where the South claimed its last important victory in the Civil War, want to stick with the current Georgia flag. They consider the plan for a new flag a slap in the face. 'But I feel the need to say it,' said the 56-year-old pastor of Elizabeth Lee United Methodist Church. 'It is a flag of divisiveness.'" Most preachers in the area have avoided talking about the flag debate...

Source: Africana.com

http://www.africana.com/DailyArticles/index_20010128.htm

On January 28, 2001, Africana.com reported on "a groundbreaking $750,000 research venture called the Boston Healing Landscape Project. Funded by the Ford Foundation...and implemented by the Department of Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine, the project's main focus will be examining communities of African descent in the Boston area and exploring how people use...

Source: The Denver Post

On January 28, 2001, The Denver Post published an article on the improvement in Jewish-Catholic relations in the past few decades. Rabbi James Rudin thinks that "more good was accomplished in Jewish-Catholic relations in the last 35 years than in the rest of the millennium." He said "most of the movement has come from changes in attitudes by the Roman Catholic Church." There has been "a long line of overtures and apologies made by the Catholic Church in the last three decades of the 20th century." Rudin said such apologies -- for...

Source: The Boston Globe

On January 27, 2001, The Boston Globe reported that "Jesus was a popular figure at President Bush's inauguration." The invocation by the Rev. Franklin Graham was closed with a prayer "'in the name of the father, and of the son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit.'" The benediction by the Rev. Kirbyjon H. Caldwell ended with the words, "'We respectfully submit this humble prayer in the name that's above all other names, Jesus the Christ.' Newspapers around the country have been publishing letters from readers offended...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On January 27, 2001, The Houston Chronicle reported that "U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman's bid for the Democratic vice presidency generated a flurry of discussion during the presidential campaign about the role of religion in public life. Lieberman, the first Jew nominated for the vice presidency by a major party, never shied away from speaking publicly about his faith." Melissa Rogers, executive director of the newly launched Pew Forum on Religion...

Source: The Seattle Times

Source: USA TODAY

On January 24, 2001, USA Today reported that "when President George W. Bush called out to churches, synagogues and mosques in his inaugural address on Saturday, his speech came sandwiched between two prayers invoking Jesus by name, rather than the usual blessing for the new administration with overarching references to God. While many thrilled to hear clergy make the nation's greatest podium a pulpit for Jesus, others complained that such prayers leave out many Americans." Martin Marty, a leading scholar of American religious history,...