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 Press-Enterprise

On June 6, 2001, The Press-Enterprise reported on the Islamic Academy of Riverside, California. "Being a nonprofit organization, the school is always in want of money...Fund-raisers, tuition and volunteerism have helped keep the doors of the academy open...Paying tuition and making donations, however, don't deter" parents from sending their children to the school, which they see as providing "spiritual and religious nourishment, a key factor missing in public schools."

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 on the "influx of Indians into central Ohio and the United States during the 1990s. The Indian population in Franklin County and Columbus grew by more than 150 percent from 1990 to 2000...The growth illustrates how the definition of Asian, once virtually synonymous with Japanese or Chinese, is changing."

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 Seattle Times

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On June 1, 2001, The Columbus Dispatch reported that "some students and parents object to the singing of explicitly religious lyrics in public schools. These critics -- including the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, which filed a lawsuit against Columbus schools last month on behalf of three families -- think the practice violates the First Amendment's Establishment Clause." The Council on American-Islamic Relations' Ohio chapter's president said he has no problem with the songs as long as they are initiated by students...

Source: The Jerusalem Post

On June 1, 2001, The Jerusalem Post reported that "lined up along the Holocaust Memorial Wall across from the United Nations headquarters, Jewish, Christian, and Hindu leaders wore yellow stickers and spoke out in solidarity with Afghan Hindus, who are being forced by the nation's ruling Taliban movement to wear saffron- colored garments...Jewish and Israeli leaders condemned the [Taliban's dress-code] ruling, declaring it reminiscent of the Nazi era and the Holocaust."

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2001/05/31/p11s1.htm

On May 31, 2001, The Christian Science Monitor reported that "When opened in 1995, the Islamic Society of Boston's Cambridge mosque was expected to meet the needs for years, but crowds of up to a thousand soon forced the search for a new location. Now they are preparing to build a dramatic mosque and cultural center in the heart of Boston, with a 1,500- capacity hall, full-time...

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

On May 31, 2001, The Christian Science Monitor reported that the Islamic Society of Boston reflects "the growing presence of Islam in the US, where the number of mosques has risen by 25 percent to more than 1,200, and the average weekly attendance has nearly doubled over the past six years, according to a recent national survey released by four Muslim organizations. 'The Mosque in America: A National Portrait' is the first comprehensive look at US Islamic centers...As Islam takes root in America the mosque has taken on...

Source: The Denver Post

On May 30, 2001, The Denver Post reported on "sacred dancers [who] praise God through movement...Some dance for their congregations, others as a private form of prayer...They share a conviction that movement deepens the spiritual experience...Sacred dance...has a place in many religions and was part of the early Jewish and Christian church."

Source: Newsday

On May 29, 2001, Newsday reported that "an upstairs fire at the Al-Amin Jame Masjid and Islamic Center [in Astoria, New York] resulted in an estimated $75,000 of water damage, displacing hundreds of Muslims from their place of worship. So organizers decided to take the weekly Friday afternoon prayer service-which draws about 600-to the street, laying down Astroturf carpeting and setting up a temporary sound system."

Source: The Arizona Republic

On May 29, 2001, The Arizona Republic reported that "demand for private schools in the [Phoenix area] that offer academics and Islamic instruction exceeds availability, a dilemma faced by Muslim parents who want to raise children with a strong faith in a non-Muslim society...The community has an estimated 30,000 members, with a few thousand children. The capacity of the two schools is 224."

Source: The Seattle Times

On May 28, 2001, The Seattle Times reported that "the population of Asian Indians in [Washington] nearly tripled from 8,203 to 23,992 during the 1990s, the largest percentage increase among Asian ethnic groups, newly released census figures show...The settlement of Indians here is largely a suburban phenomenon." Many are drawn by jobs in high-tech. "Sikhs, many of whom are originally from the Punjab region of India, are moving here from other states to be near relatives in British Columbia."