Interfaith

Kentucky Senate Passes Resolution to Post Ten Commandments

February 16, 2000

Source: The Courier-Journal

On February 16, 2000, The Courier-Journal reported that the Kentucky Senate passed a resolution to encourage schools to post the Ten Commandments and teach about religion's influence on America by a 37-1 margin. A great deal of debate ensued over the inclusion of the influence of the Jewish faith on American history. The original resolution only referred to the teaching of the Christian faith, but the Senate decide to include the entire Judeo-Christian faith's impact in the United States. Sen. Albert Robinson, who sponsored the...

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Religious Discrimination in the Workplace

February 12, 2000

Source: The Indianapolis Star

On February 12, 2000, The Indianapolis Star published an article about religious discrimination in the workplace. According to a study released last month by the New York-based Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, 66 percent of non-Christian religious followers believe that they have either experienced or witnessed religious discrimination while on the job, with Muslims being the most vulnerable to religious bias. Discrimination ranging from denial of time off for religious observances to dismissal for facial...

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Interfaith Open House at Mormon Center in Maryland

February 9, 2000

Source: The Washington Post

On February 9, 2000, The Washington Post reported that an interfaith open house was held at the Mormon Suitland Stake Center in Camp Springs, Maryland. Mormons from across Maryland and the metro Washington area hosted the open house to show the $2 million in renovations, to demonstrate their commitment to work with neighbors on social issues, and to highlight their work in genealogy. Suitland Stake President Spencer Blackburn stated: "We wanted to bring together the interfaith community and see what problems that we can work on...

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The Interfaith Center of New York Has a Permanent Home

February 5, 2000

Source: New York Daily News

On February 5, 2000, the Daily News reported that the Interfaith Center of New York has found a permanent home on East 30th Street in Manhattan in a long vacant former Turkish rug emporium. The center is spearheaded by the Rev. James Parks Morton, who recently retired from his post of 25 years as dean of New York's Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, the world's largest cathedral. There were three opening nights for the center - a benefit celebration with dinners served in patron's homes, an interfaith blessing celebration...

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FEASST - A New Center for Feminist Spirituality

January 29, 2000

Source: Los Angeles Times

On January 29, 2000, the Los Angeles Times published an article on FEASST, the new center in Long Beach, California dedicated to exploring and supporting social justice and feminist spirituality among all faiths and backgrounds. FEASST is an acronym of the center's area of focus - feminism, education, action, spirituality, support, and thealogy (deliberately spelled in the feminine form). The new center was erected to fill the vacuum left by the pioneering Immaculate Heart College Center in Los Angeles, which will close this June...

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Beliefnet.com

January 27, 2000

Source: The Boston Globe

On January 27, 2000, The Boston Globe published an article on Beliefnet, a new Web site dedicated to a multifaith approach to understanding all of the world's principal religions and belief systems. The site was launch this month by Steven Waldman, former editor of US News...

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"On Common Ground"

January 23, 2000

Source: Los Angeles Times

On January 23, 2000, the Los Angeles Times published an article entitled "On Common Ground, Los Angeles as a Microcosm of the World's Religions," about a photo exhibition of Los Angeles' growing religious diversity that is on display at USC's Lindhurst Gallery. Donald Miller, a USC religion professor, and Jerry Berndt, a freelance photojournalist, headed the project, concentrating on Los Angeles' first-generation immigrants and the role that religion plays in helping them adjust to life in the United States.

Supreme Court Turns Down Church-State Case

January 19, 2000

Source: The Washington Post

On January 19, 2000, The Washington Post reported that the Supreme Court declined to hear a constitutional challenge to Maryland's law requiring public schools to close on Good Friday. The case of Koenick v. Felton was brought by Judith Koenick, a former Montgomery County teacher who is Jewish, arguing that the law "sends a message of inclusion to Christian schoolchildren and a message of exclusion to their Jewish, Muslim, and non-believing classmates." The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit concluded last year that the...

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Martin Luther King Day

January 17, 2000

Source: Omaha World-Herald

On January 17, 2000, the Omaha World-Herald reported that members of Omaha's black and Jewish communities worshipped together on Sunday, January 16th in remembrance of Martin Luther King. About 100 people attended the service at the Church of the Living God, which welcomed members of the Temple Israel synagogue. In addition, approximately 600 people gathered for a Sunday evening service at the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance to remember King.

Interfaith Youth Conference 2000

January 8, 2000

Source: Los Angeles Times

On January 8, 2000, the Los Angeles Times published an article on the preparations for the inaugural Interfaith Youth Conference 2000, an event schedule for April 2nd at Chapman University in California. A group of 25 teenagers of a variety of faiths, operating under the umbrella of the National Conference for Community and Justice, has met since October 1999 to plan the day-long event that they hope will attract more than 1,000 youths. Genevieve Hakanson, a 17-year-old Methodist from...

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The Flushing Remonstrance is on Display

January 4, 2000

Source: New York Daily News

On January 4, 2000, the Daily News reported that The Flushing Remonstrance, America's first written declaration of religious tolerance, is on display through January 30th in the International Resource Center Gallery of the Flushing Library in New York. The document, which is rarely in public view, was written in 1657 by the citizens of Flushing as a response to Dutch exclusion of Quakers in their town. The Remonstrance demanded tolerance for all religions and declared that the town was open for all faiths.

Santeria in Washington, DC

January 4, 2000

Source: The Washington Post

On January 4, 2000, The Washington Post published an article on the presence of Santeria in the Washington, DC area. Santeria, which now attracts several thousand adherents in the region who cross ethnic, racial, professional, and religious lines, became a more visible presence in the Washington area about 20 years ago, when the Mariel boat lift brought Cubans to the District. Santeria is an Afro-Cuban faith with roots in the Yoruba region of Nigeria. The religion began when West African slaves who were brought to the New World...

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