Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8691382.stm

A controversial plan to build a mosque has divided relatives of the victims who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The mosque will be close to where the twin towers once stood in New York.

Critics call the location of the proposed Islamic complex "offensive" but others hope it will help to increase understanding between communities.

Matthew Price...

Author: Elaine Ganley

Source: Google News

Wire Service: AP

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jBLvcjYl38M5uHzhqlF2IV8WWOywD9FPRKJ00

One runs her own company, another is a housewife and a third, a divorcee, raises her children by herself. Like nearly 2,000 other Muslim women who freely wear face-covering veils anywhere in France, their lives will soon change and they...

Author: Peter Allen

Source: Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7735607/France-has-first-burka-rage-incident.html

The astonishing scene unfolded during a weekend shopping trip after the woman lawyer took offence at the attire of a fellow shopper resulting in argument during which the pair came to blows before being arrested.

It came as racial tensions grow in...

Author: Dan Benson

Source: Sheboygan Press

http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20100518/SHE0101/5180427/Mosque-gets-the-OK

After an hour and a half of fiery discussion, including comments from two dozen speakers, and before an audience of more than 120 people, the Wilson Town Board voted unanimously Monday night to grant a conditional use permit for Sheboygan County's first mosque.

With the approval, Mohammad...

Author: William Wan

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/17/AR2010051703820.html

Two months after a Muslim soldier complained to the Pentagon about being harassed after the Fort Hood shootings, Spec. Zachari Klawonn said the Army has not followed through on its promises to address problems at the country's largest military base.

Commanders at Fort Hood, Tex...

Author: Valerie Olander

Source: The Detroit News

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100518/LIFESTYLE04/5180427/1041/LIFESTYLE04/FBI-still-probing-vandalism-at-Brownstown-mosque

The FBI said today two incidents of vandalism at a local mosque are still part of an open investigation, though a motive for the acts has not been determined by federal officials.

"The FBI...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Irish Times

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0517/1224270548949.html

Lars Vilks, a Swedish cartoonist whose sketch of the Prophet Muhammad enraged many Muslims, has gone into hiding following an attempted arson attack on his home.

The attack came days after Vilks, who depicted the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog in 2007, was head-butted while giving a lecture about...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Google News

Wire Service: AP

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jCNTvqBoyqoaOU9icb-b9ci6G9zgD9FO39S84

Muslims who attended a conference in Austria's capital criticized European countries Sunday for considering the possibility of banning face-covering veils, saying it is counterproductive and regressive.

Veil bans are being...

Author: Nomi Morris

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-beliefs-kneel-20100515,0,4133336.story

When Akasha Lonsdale was a child in London, her agnostic family prohibited her from participating in religious services at the Church of England school she attended. Required to sit at the back of a Hebrew class for the school's Jewish students, she befriended a girl whose family invited her to the...

Author: Edward Cody

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/14/AR2010051405282.html

Since she started wearing a full Islamic veil six weeks ago, Selma said, she has been stared at, frowned at, muttered to, mocked as a "ghost" and forced by a policeman to lift her veil to show her face.

"In Belgium, it is forbidden to carry your religious convictions to their...

Author: Scott Mobley

Source: The Record Searchlight

http://www.redding.com/news/2010/may/15/mayor-pushes-prayer-diversity/

Redding Mayor Patrick Jones wants to diversify City Council invocations.

Police chaplains currently deliver these prayers, which essentially are entreaties to some higher power for guidance at the beginning of a council meeting.

The council on Tuesday will consider Jones’ proposal to open...

Author: Souad Mekhennet

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/world/europe/16imam.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Hesham Shashaa looked twice at the display on his cellphone, staring at the number. “It’s either a person who needs help or someone who wants to kill me,” he said.

Mr. Shashaa, an imam at the Darul Quran mosque in Munich, follows the strictest form of Islam, Salafi. But...

Author: Fredrick Nzwili

Source: Ecumenical News International

http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=4066

A number of Christian and Muslim leaders in Kenya have called on the International Criminal Court to punish those behind the 2007 to 2008 post-election violence that tore apart the country, regardless of the positions of the perpetrators. 

The religious leaders say that the beginning of the ICC's investigations in...

Author: Talat Hamdani and Adele Welty

Source: New York Daily News

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/05/13/2010-05-13_the_case_for_a_mosque_near_ground_zero_two_mothers_of_911_heroes_argue_for_a_mus.html

People of all faiths died on Sept. 11, 2001, a reflection of the fact that the United States is a nation of diverse cultures and religions....

Author: Peter Smith

Source: The Courier-Journal

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100512/FEATURES10/5120393/

The Dalai Lama's entourage stood ready to whisk him across the Indiana University campus on Wednesday afternoon to a waiting audience of thousands at its main auditorium, where he was overdue to resume a daylong series of teachings.

But he wasn't rushing. He lingered patiently with several prominent American...