Source: Los Angeles Times

On March 9, 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported that "Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, concluding a three-day visit to Washington, told Cardinals William Keeler of Baltimore and Theodore McCarrick of Washington that... persistent and historic theological differences must not harm relations between the Eastern and Western churches... Bartholomew made clear that he did not intend to try to bridge those differences... But he said both sides must make distinctions between 'essential and nonessential differences so that the...

Source: The Denver Post

On March 7, 2002, The Denver Post reported that "a granite Ten Commandments tablet that has stood outside City Hall [in Grand Junction, CO] for 44 years will remain there after a legal challenge to the constitutionality of having the commandments on public property was dropped this week... The American Civil Liberties Union and five Grand Junction residents withdrew a lawsuit against the city of Grand Junction on Tuesday... Jeff Basinger, one of the plaintiffs in the suit, said they feared if they didn't drop the suit...

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0306/p11s02-lifo.html

On March 6, 2002, The Christian Science Monitor reported that "with heightened interest in the Arab-American community since Sept. 11, and with Middle Eastern immigrants more eager to tell their neighbors who they truly are, the time may be right for food to fulfill - once again - its role as the great door-opener between newcomers and mainstream America... In fact, by simply...

Source: The Honululu Advertiser

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Mar/04/ln/ln06a.html

On March 4, 2002, The Honululu Advertiser featured an article on the "miniature temples, established a century ago by Japanese immigrants of the 1,300-year-old Shingon sect of Buddhism... in Lawa'i, Kaua'i... To many people it is a place of special power, a place of...

Source: The Portland Press Herald

http://www.portland.com/news/local/020304fatih.shtml

On March 4, 2002, The Portland Press Herald reported that on Sunday March 3, "200 people participated in an interfaith seminar called 'Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Search for a New Religious Pluralism in Maine and America'" at the University of Southern Maine. "The point of the...

Source: USA TODAY

On March 4, 2002, USA TODAY reported that "parents in two California school districts have launched an effort to have a seventh-grade social studies textbook altered or removed, charging that it contains Islamic information that amounts to proselytizing... The Pacific Justice Institute, a non-profit legal defense organization specializing in religious issues and parental rights, filed two administrative complaints on behalf of parents in the San Luis Coastal Unified and Lemon Grove school districts. Complaints may be filed in at least...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On March 3, 2002, the Los Angeles Times featured an article on UCLA Medical Center's Spiritual Care Unit. The unit is "the hospital's chaplaincy training program... The full-time staff [at the hospital] includes a priest, a minister and a rabbi, with Muslims and Buddhists on call. Fifteen years ago, when the program was new, the full-time staff consisted of one Baptist minister... These days, religious diversity is redefining hospital chaplaincy work. While the patient directory at UCLA is usually about 65% Christian, the number...

Source: The Tampa Tribune

On March 3, 2002, The Tampa Tribune reported that "when leaders of Iglesia Roca de Esperanza began noticing more English speakers visiting the traditionally Spanish-speaking church, they knew they had two choices: ignore them or welcome them into the fold... So each Sunday, the church began providing interpretation devices for those who did not understand Pastor Jesus Romero's Spanish message. The electronic devices have an earpiece through which the user hears the service translated even as the pastor speaks... 'It's been...

Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

On March 3, 2002, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that "a fire at a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in El Cajon [CA] is being investigated as arson and a hate crime, fire and police officials said... Firefighters answered an alarm from the church [on March 2, 2002]... and found smoke coming from the sanctuary area, investigators said. The fire was extinguished in less than 10 minutes, but damage estimated at more than $100,000 included some burned pews and vandalism. Firefighters also noticed a...

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On March 2, 2002, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that "about 60 Atlanta community leaders from across the religious spectrum met... to get to know each other's faiths... The assembly was an outgrowth of a group started by President Eisenhower in the 1950s. The national American Assembly... meets biannually to debate and form consensus around U.S. policy... The regional assembly is new. Its first topic was planned long before Sept. 11 --- back when leaders decided to tackle the increasing...

Source: The Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-0203010334mar01.story?coll=chi%2Dnewslocalchicago%2Dhed

On March 1, 2002, The Chicago Tribune reported that "part religious study and part social gathering, book clubs with a Buddhist, Christian, Jewish or other...

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On March 1, 2002, The Columbus Dispatch reported that the local Armenian population "awaits the first Columbus visit of Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, primate of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America. Church emergencies in Armenia have forced Barsamian to cancel planned appearances here twice before... He is expected to perform the Divine Liturgy... [at] St. James Episcopal Church... where the parish holds monthly worship... Many in the 300-family local congregation, which draws members from Dayton and...

Source: Spirituality and Health

The Spring 2002 edition of Spirituality and Health featured a story on the "huge outpouring of support" from the community after a window at the Islamic Center of Toledo was shot on September 11 in an act of vandalism. Cherrefe Kadri, president of the large mosque, said "YES-FM, a Christian radio station in the Toledo area, had contacted me, wanting to do something... They called out on the airwaves for people to come together at our center to hold hands, to ring our mosque, to circle our mosque, holding hands, to pray for...

Source: The Washington Post

On February 28, 2002, The Washington Post reported that "bucking a decades-long trend in which the vast majority of new places of worship have been built in the suburbs, Our Lady of Lebanon, a 36-year-old congregation of Maronite Catholics, has begun building its first church on Alaska Avenue in Northwest Washington... The 18,000-square-foot limestone church... is intended to reflect the congregation's religious and architectural roots in Lebanon, the Middle Eastern homeland of most of its members... The high cost of...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On February 26, 2002, The Houston Chronicle reported that "for the second time in a year, the Supreme Court refused Monday to review a lower court's ban on displaying the Ten Commandments on government property, leaving states in confusion over whether such monuments are constitutional... Attorneys general in nine states, including Texas, had urged the court to hear the matter to resolve conflicting court opinions around the country. Judges in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin have forbidden Ten Commandments monuments on...