Source: Los Angeles Times

On June 26, 2002 the Los Angeles Times reported city officials have halted the construction work on a home used by Congregation Etz Chaim, for Orthodox Jewish services, part of an on-going battle over zoning in the residential neighborhood. "Congregation Etz Chaim's dilemma was cited by federal lawmakers when they passed the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000...    The law prohibits local land-use and zoning regulations from substantially burdening religious practice, unless officials can show a...

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On June 24, 2002, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette featured a letter to the Editor from Rabbi James Gibson, responding to the comments of Rev. Vines. "I am the senior rabbi of Temple Sinai in Squirrel Hill and have worked to improve inter-group relations in Pittsburgh for the last 14 years. I am shocked at Mr. Vines' callous disregard for interfaith sensibilities as well as his ignorance about Islam... Every person of faith, regardless of their belief, should demand a public retraction of Mr. Vines' statement. Neither explanation...

Source: The Boston Globe

On June 23, 2002 The Boston Globe reported that "songs, food, and prayer filled Boston-area synagogues during yesterday's Sabbath services as usual, despite Friday's FBI warning of possible fuel tank attacks on American synagogues or Jewish schools... Police departments in Boston, Brookline, Newton, and Sharon have all been contacting local synagogues and schools to tell them to be on heightened alert after captured Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters mentioned a plot to attack American synagogues or schools in recent interviews by the...

Source: The Boston Globe

On June 20, 2002 The Boston Globe reported that in Boston, "Temple Israel's portable ark, which holds the Torah, sits in an unlikely place, down the block from the synagogue in the corner of the Hartford Street Presbyterian Church sanctuary...    The temple's congregants will soon follow, when they start holding services at the Natick church next Thursday. The synagogue is being renovated, and the church's board voted to share the sanctuary with their neighbors down the street through the summer."

Source: New York Daily News

On June 15, 2002 the New York Daily News featured an article on "the Interfaith Alliance, with headquarters in Washington, [which] claims 150,000 members who represent 69 faiths, ranging (alphabetically) from African Methodist Episcopal to Zoroastrian, a religion dating to ancient Persia. Members represent themselves, not their denominations... [and membership] grew by 20,000 last year alone... The alliance was founded in 1994 to counter the political activities of the religious right... The Interfaith Alliance plans to...

Source: ADL

http://www.adl.org/PresRele/dirab_41/4113_41.asp

On June 14, 2002, the Anti-Defamation League issued a press release stating "the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was appalled at the vandalism of the Al Hilaal Islamic Charitable Foundation Masjid building site" in Milpitas, CA.

Source: The Dallas Morning News

http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/061302dnmetsbcmuslims.d5f78.html

On June 13, 2002, The Dallas Morning News reported "Baptist's slam on Muhammad repudiated by other faiths." The article noted that the statement about the Prophet Muhammad "was the most recent in a series of conservative Baptist comments and actions over the last 20 years or so that have antagonized one group or another." This included...

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On June 13, 2002 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported "St. Louis clergy protest remarks on Islam made at convention." The article noted that "area religious leaders gathered at Christ Church Cathedral downtown Wednesday to call for a retraction of remarks made about Islam at the convention by the Rev. Jerry Vines, former president of the denomination. ... Local leaders of the Episcopal, Jewish, Muslim, Catholic, Presbyterian, United Methodist, Disciples of Christ, and Baptist faiths and other community leaders joined together...

Source: Anti-Defamation League

http://www.adl.org/PresRele/Rel_ChStSep_90/4112_90.asp

On June 12, 2002, The Anti-Defamation League issued a press release, "Baptist Leader's Remarks Offensive, Demeaning And Damaging." Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director issued a statement which noted that the recent comments attributed to Rev. Vines "'are offensive, demeaning, and damaging to the American ideals of religious diversity and intergroup civility. They strike a troubling...

Source: Anti Defamation League

http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASUS_12/4109_12.asp

On June 11, 2002 the Anti Defamation League (ADL) issued a press release on a nationwide survey that "shows an increase in the number of Americans with anti-Semitic attitudes, reversing a ten-year decline and raising concerns that 'an undercurrent of Jewish hatred persists in America.'"

Source: The Orange County Register

http://www.ocregister.com/sitearchives/2002/6/10/local/comedy00610cci3.shtml

On June 10, 2002 The Orange County Register reported that "a Muslim and a rabbi make up a comedy team that hopes to build better understanding between communities with a little light-hearted fun... Two stand-up comedians, Rabbi Bob Alper and Ahmed Ahmed, will appear in an...

Source: New York Daily News

On June 10, 2002 the New York Daily News reported that "alarmed by recent reports that the 1993 World Trade Center bombers had once considered attacks on Brooklyn's Jewish neighborhoods, a local rabbi has announced plans for armed civilian patrols starting next weekend... 'The idea and the object is to act as a deterrent,' said Rabbi Yakove Lloyd, chairman of a right-wing Queens-based organization called the Jewish Defense Group... A community leader from Williamsburg, another heavily Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn, said he...

Source: The Columbus Ledger-Inquirer

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/living/3423442.htm

On June 8, 2002 the reported "Faiths gather over dinner: Religious groups raising money for Habitat project." The article described an interfaith discussion group of Muslims, Christians, and Jews created after September 11. "The goal was simply to become more knowledgeable about one another's faith. ... Now, the three faith communities are planning...

Source: Newsday

On June 8, 2002 Newsday featured an article on two new houses of worship in New York, reporting the stories of the Messianic Jewish synagogue and the United Methodist Church simultaneously. "After decades of dreaming, years of planning and months of construction, the Beth Emanuel Messianic Congregation in Holbrook and the Ban Suk United Methodist Church in Old Westbury are about to move into new homes."

Source: The Orange County Register

http://www.ocregister.com/sitearchives/2002/6/8/news/faith00608cci3.shtm

On June 8, 2002 The Orange County Register reported that "Muslims in Orange County [California] have been busy trying to reshape the image of Islam among non-Muslims, taking their messages of neighborliness to freeway billboards, putting books and videos on Islam on library shelves...