Author: Angie El Sherif

Source: InFocus News

http://www.infocusnews.net/content/view/34427/135/

For 14-year-old Sarah Rafiqi, a freshman at Valencia High School in Placentia, Calif., taking part in the Bridging Communities program was a way to learn about others in neighboring communities. “I wanted to join because I think it is a good idea for kids of different ethnicities and races to come together and form a bond and a friendship,”...

Author: Ryan J. Foley

Source: Examiner.com

Wire Service: AP

http://www.examiner.com/a-2000823~Obama_defends__curtails_National_Day_of_Prayer.html

President Barack Obama is scaling back White House plans for Thursday's National Day of Prayer even as his administration defends the tradition in federal court in Wisconsin.

Obama's position has disappointed Christian conservatives...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Star Tribune

Wire Service: AP

Author: Staff Writer

Source: CBS News

Wire Service: AP

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/05/ap/middleeast/main4994022.shtml

The Egyptian government is using swine flu as an excuse to get rid of tens of thousands of pigs raised by garbage collectors who live amid the refuse in Cairo slums. But the move has prompted accusations Monday that Muslims are attacking minority Christians, who breed the...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: DAWN.com

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/provinces/09-govt-announces-relief-package-for-displaced-sikhs-szh--02

Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti has reiterated that the government will ensure the safety of minorities in the country, APP reports.

‘...

Author: Jimmie Collins

Source: The Austin American-Statesman

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/05/04/0504islam101.html

Jacquelyn Harper became a Muslim at the end of January. The 25-year-old said she has never before felt as close a bond with God.

"I started reading books (about Islam), and the books I was reading started to really make sense to me," said Harper, who converted from a...

Author: Naveen S Garewal

Source: Tribune News Service

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090505/main8.htm

This is a place where politicians need to come and take a few lessons in secularism. After militancy forced Hindus to migrate from the Kashmir valley in the 1990s, Muslims have been acting as “priests” and “caretakers” of the ancient Mamalaka Temple on the outskirts of Pahalgam.

Not only has this 900-year-old...

Author: Ansel Oliver and Elizabeth Lechleitner

Source: Adventist News Network

http://news.adventist.org/2009/05/understanding-islam.html

Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders say two conferences exploring areas of common understanding between Adventists and Muslims will bolster the church's interfaith outreach.

Earlier this month, dozens of international church officials met in Grenada, Spain, to help erode misperceptions of Islam...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Organiser

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=288&page=17

The second Australian Hindu Conference with the theme ‘Sustaining Australia through strengthening bonds amongst communities’ was organised by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) Australia. The conference was inaugurated by world renowned spiritual leader Swami Dayananda Saraswati by lighting...

Author: Melissa Pamer

Source: Dailybreeze.com

http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_12287014

Ester Hacken has come to consider herself part of Amir Fazalbhoy's family during the past decade, which saw the blossoming of their friendship.

Despite many occasions on which they've broken bread and shared holidays, there always remained one thorny issue dividing them: religion.

On Sunday, Hacken, an observant Jew, and Fazalbhoy, a practicing...

Author: Jesse Leavenworth

Source: The Hartford Courant

http://www.courant.com/community/news/ec/hc-many-faiths-0502.artmay02,0,2096209.story

Soon after Russian Jews settled here a century ago, a congressional panel on immigration set out to study the newcomers' progress and assimilation with the mostly Yankee population.

The Jewish farmers of Ellington were among the immigrant communities studied throughout...

Author: Dana Clark Felty

Source: The Buddhist Channel/Savannah Now

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=61,8095,0,0,1,0

Six-year-old Cayden Somers was rolling on the floor, jumping across the room and bouncing off the walls on Sunday as his Sunday school teacher prepared her lesson in the next room.

The energy soon transferred to 5-year-old Savana Kaufman and 6-year-old Dorothy Neal who jumped from side to side giggling...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Thaindian News

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/politics/bangladesh-welcomes-us-recognition-of-its-religious-tolerance_100187256.html

The Bangladesh government has welcomed a US Congressional panel’s move to drop it from a list of countries deemed to violate the religious freedom of minorities.

The decision is a vindication of the...

Author: Emily Wax

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/30/AR2009043004083.html

At a trendy pub in this cosmopolitan IT capital, Hemangini Gupta, 28, and some of her girlfriends were recently relaxing with cocktails after work. A group of Hindu men later followed them outside, verbally accosting them for drinking in a public bar and for wearing jeans.

"These...

Author: Pamela Duque

Source: The Miami Herald

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/northeast/story/1026811.html

With final exams around the corner, Sundays mean study time for some high school students. But for Shira Papir and nine friends, last Sunday was a day for helping others and spending time with fellow teens from different religious backgrounds.

''Interfaith dialogue has always been something I've been...