Source: The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36~53~1778300,00.html

On November 20, 2003 The Denver Post reported, "A Native American medicine man can keep murder a secret, just as a priest or other member of the clergy can, a Durango lawyer argues in a case that could shape federal law. 'There is no question in my mind that a Native American spiritual leader should be accorded the same rights as other clergy,' said Walter Echo-Hawk,...

Source: The New York Times

Source: AllAfrica Global Media

https://allafrica.com/stories/200311110145.html

On November 10, 2003 AllAfrica Global Media reported, "[A]t the 10th Ordinary Intergovernmental Authority on Development summit in Kampala, Uganda, [political leaders discussed] stalemated thorny issues such as the Somali peace process and Ethiopia-Eritrea border tensions...

Source: Beliefnet.com

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/135/story_13544_1.html

On November 5, 2003 Beliefnet.com posted an Associated Press article that reported, "Denmark said...it will let a group that worships Thor, Odin and other Norse gods conduct legally-recognized marriages. 'To me, it would be wrong if the indigenous religion of this country wasn't recognized,' Tove Fergo, the minister for Ecclesiastic Affairs and a Lutheran priest, told The Associated...

Source: The New York Times

On February 22, 2003 The New York Times reported that "on a bright, tropical Sunday, the pews at Kawaiahao Church are filled with the faithful: locals in suits or flowered muumuus, tourists in shorts, conspicuous with their name tags and camera bags... The Hawaiian rendering of the Lord's Prayer, with the soft, round vowels of the native language, tumble over the crowd like a wave coming in to shore. 'E ko makou makua iloko o ka lani...' But the tourists, many reading along from a program, are not the only ones who do not...

Source: St. Joseph News

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

On December 15, 2002 the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that "for Racine's [WI] Hispanic Catholic community -- particularly for people of Mexican heritage -- Dec. 12 is no ordinary day... It is a celebration for the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, known as Our Lady of Guadalupe for her apparition in 1531 near Mexico City to a Christian named Juan Diego at which she declared her love for the people of Mexico, according to Catholic Church teachings... On Dec. 12, Mary is said to have performed miracles --...

Source: Star Tribune

On October 28, 2002 the Star Tribune reported that "through silence and song, sermons and witness, halting voices and tears, Minnesotans of all denominations mourned the late U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone on Sunday... Commemorations weren't confined to churches. Outside the State Capitol, nearly 300 people, most of them Hmong, gathered to praise the Wellstones...         The nearly two-hour-long service began with a traditional Hmong mourning procession. Hundreds marched from the Veterans Memorial to the Capitol steps, accompanied by music...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On April 21, 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported that one of South Korea's most famous shamans, Kim Kumhwa,...travels the world with a group of performers to re-create selected rituals known as kut (pronounced coot)... [These] rituals are part of the country's folk religion and central to its music and dance traditions... Kim was initiated at the age of 17 into her role as a mudang, or shaman, by her grandmother, also a mudang. Her path to shamanism began, she says, when she was 11 and came down with a serious illness that she...

Source: The Seattle Times

http://www.womenofwisdom.org

On February 9, 2002, The Seattle Times featured an article on the Women of Wisdom conference, whose participants are practitioners of "everything from earth-centered and goddess spirituality to Incan shamanic practices... About 2,000 people are expected to attend parts of the eight-day women's spirituality conference at Seattle Unity Church, a nondenominational metaphysical church. More than 90 events are planned, exploring...