Source: The Christian Science Monitor

On February 28, 2001, The Christian Science Monitor reported that the winter Olympic Games of 2002 in Salt Lake City is throwing the spotlight on the city and on the divisions in "the city population now evenly split between Mormon adherents and non-Mormons...The battles include what critics say are antiquated liquor laws, charges of discrimination, and complaints that the church stifles basic freedoms." One Mormon said the Mormons "'want the Olympics to correct misunderstandings about the church. Others want Salt Lake...

Source: St. Petersburg Times

http://www.sptimes.com/News/022801/Citrus/_Davids__deliver_stan.shtml

On February 28, 2001, the St. Petersburg Times reported on "the Citrus County [Florida] School Board...hearing the public's opinion on two issues: opening board meetings with a prayer and allowing a Christian youth group to meet at a middle school during school hours... Both issues were raised by board member Carol Snyder." She said that opening meetings...

Source: The Arizona Republic

On February 27, 2001, The Arizona Republic reported that "scheduling the senior prom on the same night as the Sabbath has upset some students at Horizon High School and may force them to skip the event." The planned date for the prom falls on the Sabbath for the Jewish and Seventh-day Adventist students. One Jewish student is "considering legal action."

Source: Dayton Daily News

On February 26, 2001, the Dayton Daily News published an editorial on a Texas school's co-sponsorhip of religious baccalaureate services with local churches. "Under current court rulings," the writer said, "school sponsorship of a religious service is unconstitutional." The school therefore needs to shift the religious baccalaureate from school to private sponsorship. He offers two more arguments in favor of this shift: "a privately sponsored, voluntarily attended religious service is consistent with our commitment to religious...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On February 24, 2001, The Houston Chronicle reported that, "Traditionally, the ashes that will mark the foreheads of ...Catholic and Protestant believers are made from burned palms - often the very palms used in the previous year's Palm Sunday observances...On Palm Sunday, celebrated the week before Easter, the palms represent the ones that residents of Jerusalem are said to have waved as Jesus entered the city." The palms are a symbol of hope, their ashes a symbol of death and a reminder of our mortality. One Episcopal dean...

Source: The Arizona Republic

On February 23, 2001, The Arizona Republic reported that about 100 Faith Presbyterian Church members came to a program at a south Phoenix mosque that was meant to address their misconceptions about Muslims. The group reported that they learned a lot about Muslims. As one church member said, "You have to learn about each other in order to get along with each other."

Source: The Denver Post

On February 23, 2001, The Denver Post reported that "the Christian Scientists are bringing out their powerful lobby as HB 1286...moves through the Colorado legislature." This legislation would remove "an exemption in the state's child-abuse statutes that essentially makes Christian Scientists not liable for death or disability that might result if they choose to treat their children with Christian Science practices rather than medical treatments." Christian Scientists distinguish themselves from other faith-healing groups...

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/02/23/MNN118531.DTL

On February 23, 2001, The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the religious-based San Francisco Organizing Project will be gathering "more than 3,000 people in San Francisco to press top state and city officials to produce more affordable housing... The project draws support from 40 religious...

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On February 22, 2001, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on the 44 new cardinals that were installed last week by Pope John Paul II. "The number of cardinals installed was a record," as was the geographical diversity of the group. "The new cardinals reflected the pope's strategy for the church of 1 billion adherents in the new millennium. John Paul beefed up the Latin American contingent, elevated prelates from the Middle East, where the church is struggling to survive, and installed two Ukrainians, a new...

Source: Star Tribune

On February 21, 2001, the Minneapolis Star Tribune published an article that brings up one of the biggest problems with Bush's faith-based initiative. "The state cannot be in the business of deciding which faiths pass muster and which do not. If they are law-abiding and their programs are effective, it would seem you have to take them all or take none. You allow proselytizing in all or in none." For example, the Salvation Army "injects its Christian philosophy deep into its programs." If the Salvation Army can do this, the article asked...

Source: South Bend Tribune

On February 21, 2001, the South Bend Tribune reported that, "while not opposing Bush's initiative outright, Lutheran, Catholic and Jewish groups are raising concerns about potential religious discrimination and coercion, echoing arguments from civil libertarian quarters." Other concerns include the theoretical issue of the separation between church and state, government infringement on churches' freedom, and worries "about government funding of religious groups outside the mainstream, such as the Church of Scientology and the...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On February 19, 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported that in January the Los Angeles diocese became the first in the Episcopal church to appoint a Latino provost in the United States. The provost is "the person responsible for overseeing the day-to-day administration of a diocese's cathedral center...The Los Angeles diocese has the church's highest concentration of Latinos. They make up 10,000 of the 85,000 Episcopalians in the diocese," but only 20 of the 510 priests are Latinos. The new provost, Ernesto Medina, is one of only 275...

Source: Star Tribune

On February 19, 2001, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that the 150 to 200 Hasidic Jews who live in Postville, Iowa, "may finally be on the verge of gaining acceptance in this predominantly Christian community of 1,600 residents." The first Jews arrived from New York in 1987. "Last month, in one of the most significant developments yet, the town council appointed its first Jew." Several residents then signed a petition objecting to the appointment. The petition has "forced everybody off the fence" about their position toward Jewish...

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On February 19, 2001, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that the symbolic "Light of St. Gregory" was brought to members of the Armenian Church of Atlanta in a celebration of the 1,700th anniversary of the Christianization of Armenia. The flame used in the celebration originated in Armenia and has been distributed to Armenians all over the world. About 1,100 Armenians live in metro Atlanta.

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

On February 19, 2001, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that "more than 80 Roman Catholic priests who serve predominantly Hispanic parishes plan to meet today with Cardinal Francis George to discuss what some view as the failure of the Archdiocese of Chicago to meet the needs of Hispanic Catholics." Three Hispanic employees of the archdiocese recently complained of discrimination, and many more have complained that "the archdiocese isn't doing enough to keep up with the fast-growing Hispanic Catholic population in Chicago...One-third...