Judaism

Character Education of Government Employees in Maryland Causes Controversy

May 4, 2001

Source: The Baltimore Sun

On May 4, 2001, The Baltimore Sun reported that "the Carroll County commissioners voted yesterday to embrace a character development program lauded by a fundamentalist Judeo-Christian group, becoming the first locality in Maryland to promote traits in county [government] workers it deems critical to good citizenship...Critics say such government-sponsored programs are cause for concern because they promote religious values and might violate the First Amendment."

Representatives from Three Faiths Compare Notes at College Panel

May 2, 2001

Source: The Kansas City Star

On May 2, 2001, The Kansas City Star reported that Penn Valley Community College invited "Imam Mohammed Adnan Bayazid of the Islamic Society of Greater Kansas City, Rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn of the New Reform Temple and Father Jose Geronimo Herrera of the Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph to answer questions about...Islam, Judaism and Christianity. For many, this was the first time to hear differing faith leaders compare notes about their traditions."

Orthodox Jews Face Prejudice In New Jersey Town

May 2, 2001

Source: The Record

On May 2, 2001, The Record reported that "Tenafly Mayor Ann Moscovitz and an Orthodox rabbi squared off in federal court..., each offering radically different accounts of what happened when they met last September to settle the eruv dispute." Rabbi Shmuel Goldin testified that Moscovitz said she didn't want the eruv because she didn't want more Orthodox Jews to move into the town. "Moscovitz testified that those sentiments were not her own, that she was simply relaying to Goldin the fears that some constituents had expressed to her...

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Interfaith Campaign to Promote Ethics

May 1, 2001

Source: Los Angeles Times

On May 1, 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported on "an unusual campaign to improve local ethics [in Pacific Palisades by] posting 3,500 signs along neighborhood roads to promote community values...The stake-mounted placards bearing the words 'love,' 'courage,' 'respect,' 'integrity,' 'passion,' 'good works' and 'kindness' were being confiscated by Los Angeles street-use inspectors" because permits are required by the city for the signs to be on the public right of way. "The community values crusade was launched after Kehillat Israel...

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Three Houses of Worship Apply for Neighboring Lots

April 29, 2001

Source: The New York Times

On April 29, 2001, The New York Times reported that the Korean Presbyterian Church, the Jain Society of America and the North Shore Hebrew Academy "have each applied to the [Village of Lake Success in New York] to erect houses of worship and educational centers on the north service road of the Long Island Expressway...The buildings would be next door to one another...Officials viewed the applications as an affirmation of the Island's diversity."

Minister Bars Rabbi from Giving Baccalaureate Services

April 28, 2001

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On April 28, 2001, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that the Rev. Mickler's exclusion of Rabbi Lebow from giving a baccalaureate speech in his church "struck a sensitive spot with many of Atlanta's 100,000 Jews. Many felt the return of a nearly latent sense of "otherness" -- a sense that Christians view Jews as strange and somehow different." One Jewish resident expressed the feeling "that we're not 100 percent accepted."

Jewish Group Teaches Belief in Jesus as the Messiah

April 28, 2001

Source: The Kansas City Star

On April 28, 2001, The Kansas City Star reported on "Jews for Jesus, an international organization whose mission is to make the messiahship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to Jews around the world. They maintain that being a Jew is an ethnic identity rather than a religious one, and use street evangelism, secular advertising campaigns, personal visits and Bible studies to reach Jews with their message...Local Jewish leaders...say that belief in Jesus as the Messiah makes one a Christian." Jews for Jesus disagrees.

Minister Bars Rabbi from Giving Baccalaureate Services

April 24, 2001

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On April 24, 2001, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution published an editorial arguing that "the pastor at Mount Bethel United Methodist Church in Cobb County [Georgia] was acting fully within his prerogatives in deciding that a rabbi would not be welcome to deliver a sermon during a baccalaureate service for Walton High School...That said, we also believe that the Walton High PTSA committee was absolutely correct to move its baccalaureate service to the Cobb Civic Center rather than allow any hosting facility...

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Charlie Ward Apologizes for Making Stereotypical Statements about Jews

April 24, 2001

Source: New York Daily News

On April 24, 2001, the New York Daily News reported that "hours after NBA commissioner David Stern and two more Jewish organizations criticized Charlie Ward [of the New York Knicks] for his 'uninformed and ill-founded statements' concerning Jews and Jesus Christ, Ward issued a formal apology last night... Ward said the whole controversy came to light only because he was curious about Judaism."

Minister Bars Rabbi from Giving Baccalaureate Services

April 24, 2001

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On April 24, 2001, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported Bishop Lindsey Davis of the United Methodist Church's North Georgia Conference called for the Rev. Randy Mickler and Rabbi Steven Lebow to meet "face to face" to settle the issue of Mickler's barring Lebow from giving a baccalaureate address from his church pulpit.

Minister Bars Rabbi from Giving Baccalaureate Services

April 24, 2001

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On April 24, 2001, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution published excerpts from the Rev. Randy Mickler's most recent Sunday sermon. Mickler said, "It is a great disloyalty to Jesus Christ according to my faith for me to honor pagan religion by allowing them to preach their faith from this pulpit in His house... At no time would I ever want our Jewish friends to feel slighted, hurt or embarrassed."

Minister Bars Rabbi from Giving Baccalaureate Services

April 23, 2001

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On April 23, 2001, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported on the response to the Rev. Mickler's decision to bar a rabbi from giving baccalaureate services in his church. "The Rev. Randy Mickler's words earned a standing ovation from his Mount Bethel United Methodist Church congregation Sunday as he defended his refusal to permit a rabbi to speak from his pulpit...The same decision has prompted some Jewish families to cut ties to the Cobb County church's popular youth sports program."

Memorial Service Honors Holocaust Victims and Jewish Spirit

April 21, 2001

Source: The Kansas City Star

On April 21, 2001, The Kansas City Star reported on the 2001 Yom Hashoah/Warsaw Ghetto Memorial Service in Overland Park, Kansas, which "honors the memory of those who died during the Holocaust and the indomitable spirit of the Jewish people."

Minister Bars Rabbi from Giving Baccalaureate Services

April 20, 2001

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On April 20, 2001, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that Rabbi Steven Lebow claimed to be "flabbergasted" when he was informed that Mount Bethel United Methodist Church would not let him give the address to Walton High School's graduating seniors there because of his Jewish beliefs. ""Our philosophy is that the doors should be open, not closed," he said. "I wouldn't expect him to compromise his faith in Christ. All I want is the same respect from him."

EEOC to Investigate Allegations of Anti-Semitism at a Minnesota College

April 20, 2001

Source: The Washington Post

On April 20, 2001, The Washington Post reported that "the chancellor of Minnesota's state colleges and universities and the president of St. Cloud State University have taken the apparently unprecedented step of asking the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to investigate allegations of systemic anti-Semitism at St. Cloud State. The move follows the filing of complaints with the EEOC by several Jewish members or former members of the St. Cloud State faculty."

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