Source: The Providence Journal-Bulletin

On August 4, 2002 The Providence Journal-Bulletin featured an editorial response by Charles Haynes, of the First Amendment Center, to recent criticisms of Interfaith events. "In the long shadow of Sept. 11, Americans are rediscovering what most of the world has never forgotten: religious differences matter... In reality, for most Jews, Christians, Muslims and others, it does matter what you believe... Ignoring religious differences doesn't work... [The] alternative is for Americans to address religious differences...

Source: The Boston Globe

On August 4, 2002, The Boston Globe reported on the comedy duo, Rabbi Bob Alper and Egyptian-born Ahmed Ahmed, who "are touring with a show called 'One Arab. One Jew. One Stage'... Although the show's content is not political, Alper says that audiences are delighted just to see a Jewish and an Arab comic appearing together... Ahmed calls the show 'a gesture of peace.'"

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/news/0802/04teranniversary.html

On August 4, 2002 The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that "the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America will be commemorated with tolling bells, common prayers and moments of silence... Sept. 11 is expected to be a time for public grieving and spiritual connection... Muslim...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On August 3, 2002 The Houston Chronicle reported that a new "survey of students entering college shows 92.6 percent of those with two Jewish parents identify as Jews, but there's a notable drop-off if the parents are intermarried...    Among students with a Jewish mother and gentile father, 37.8 percent considered themselves Jewish. That drops to 15.3 percent when the father is Jewish and the mother gentile... Forty percent of students from mixed marriages listed no religious identification."

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On August 3, 2002 The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that "for the next seven Sundays, an interfaith group of 400 Baha'i, Baptist, Episcopal, Jewish, Methodist, Muslim, Seventh-day Adventist and Unitarian congregation members will build a house on behalf of Atlanta Habitat for Humanity... They also are getting to know each other... Habitat started building interfaith houses a couple of years ago, but nothing as inclusive as this project, said Larrie Martin, executive director for Atlanta Habitat...

Source: The Patriot News

On August 2, 2002 The Patriot News reported that "both the National Council of Churches and a coalition of American Muslim groups are calling for interfaith observances on Sept. 11... The council of churches, representing primarily mainline Protestant and Orthodox denominations, urged [its members] to 'commemorate the tragic terrorist events of last fall in a constructive way that would broaden interfaith understanding, and to return the hospitality many mosques offered Christians after last fall's attacks.'"

Source: The Associated Press

http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=16657

On July 31, 2002, The Associated Press reported that "Attorneys general from 48 states and two territories are calling on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider its decision that declared the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional... In a letter to the Court of Appeals, the attorneys general said the decision is legally flawed and the matter...

Source: U.S.Department of State

Source: The Bakersfield Californian

http://www.bakersfield.com/local/story/1505644p-1623213c.html

On July 29, 2002 The Bakersfield Californian reported that in Bakersfield, California "a ceremony in the council chambers will formally dedicate... 'In God We Trust'... the words that were mounted last week above the city seal behind the council dais... And representatives of the city's Islamic, Buddhist, Sikh, Hindu, Jewish, American Indian, Catholic and...

Source: The Daily News of Los Angeles

On July 29, 2002, The Daily News of Los Angeles featured an article on Obon at the San Fernando Valley Hongwanji Buddhist Temple in Pacoima, California. "The Obon Festival, or the Feast of Lanterns, is one of the major Buddhist observances in Japanese culture and is intended to be a time to honor the deceased with food and dancing, and to remember the importance of charitable giving... Held at the Japanese American Community Center in Pacoima, the festival is also one of the temple's largest fund-raising events of...

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On July 29, 2002, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that 17 children from Circus Salaam Shalom, an Muslim-Jewish interfaith troupe, performed their first public show "before a boisterous crowd of about 100 at the City Museum... Circus Salaam Shalom translates as peace in Arabic and Hebrew, respectively, and works from the concept that it's easier to understand someone once you've stood on their shoulders, leaped through their arms or dangled from their body... In May, the children performed privately at their respective...

Source: Newsday

http://www.newsday.com/mynews/ny-nyhind292802785jul29.story

On July 29, 2002 Newsday reported that "tensions among Hindus have broken into the open in Queens, coming to a head at a protest outside a prominent Flushing temple where about 50 protesters decried the appearance of a right-wing Indian activist... Sadhvi Ritambara of New Delhi, well-known in India for calling for the notorious 1992 destruction of a Muslim mosque in [India]... arrived in...

Source: Newsday

On July 28, 2002 Newsday reported that "a special interfaith memorial service for the victims of the World Trade Center will be held at the Richmond County Ballpark [in Staten Island, New York] to mark the one-year anniversary of the attacks... 'The event marking the first anniversary of the tragedy will focus on prayers from a broad spectrum of clergy and religious leaders, and will include music, mediation and prayer,' said Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro... �Although the service will be open to the public, reserved...

Source: Ventura County Star

On July 27, 2002 the Ventura County Star featured an article on the 18 international scholars studying pluralism, both professors and graduate students, who are "spending the summer in a University of California, Santa Barbara, program on how different religions can coexist... The scholars are from Bosnia, Finland, Egypt and other nations... As part of a Fulbright American Studies Institute sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, they're studying religious unity in America as well as the hate that seeded the terrorism of...

Source: Rediff.com

http://www.rediff.com/us/2002/jul/27us.htm

On July 27, 2002, Rediff.com reported that when Sadhvi Rithambara, a former prominent Hindu politician in India, spoke at reception, in Queens, New York, "40-odd angry demonstrators protested her presence with placards accusing her of communal bloodshed... Watching the demonstrators was a visibly shaken Uma Mysorekar, president of the Hindu Temple Society... ' The temple did not know she was going to speak. They just...