Source: Beliefnet

http://www.beliefnet.com/frameset.asp?pageLoc=/story/107/story_10725_1.html

On June 7, 2002, Beliefnet featured the full text of Zayed Yasin's commencement speech, "Of Faith and Citizenship: My American Jihad." Yasin's speech explained, "Jihad, in its truest and purest form, the form to which all Muslims aspire, is the determination to do right, to do justice even against your own interests. It is an individual struggle for...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On June 6, 2002 The Houston Chronicle featured an article on the Muslim Student Association at Westfield High School in Texas. When the group "formed three years ago at Westfield High School, it was a low-profile organization with a purpose of informing people about the Islamic faith... After the attacks on the World Trade Center last fall and the radical attempts to attach Islam to the terrorist acts, the group took on a larger role, although its mission remained the same... Months after the attacks, the association...

Source: The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=4361405&BRD=1425&PAG=461&dept_id=154733&rfi=6

On June 6, 2002 The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle featured an article on an interfaith prayer gathering in Kansas City, Missouri, in rememberance of September 11. "The event will end with prayers for peace by selected individuals representing the Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Sikh faiths."

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On June 1, 2002 The Houston Chronicle reported Muslims and Buddhists are joining Southern Baptists and other Christians in a campaign to persuade Tennessee voters to reject a state lottery... 'There's probably not any other issue, except maybe Sept. 11, that would pull all these groups together,' said the Rev. Skip Armistead, a United Methodist pastor in Madison and a chairman of the Gambling Free Tennessee Alliance... The anti-lottery forces are led by the Southern Baptists and United Methodists, representing some 4,300...

Source: The New York Times

On June 1, 2002 The New York Times featured the article "The Distant Drums of War; In Queens, Indians and Pakistanis Live in Harmony" about the immigrant South Asian community in Queens, NY. "More than 200,000 Pakistani and Indian immigrants live in New York City, according to the latest census figures. And if the everyday rhythm of life on 74th Street, in the commercial center of the city's growing South Asian population, tells the tale of coexistence, theirs is a peaceful one... [But] there is worry, if not division, on 74th...

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36841-2002May30.html

On May 31, 2002, The Washington Post featured an article on the controversial commencement speech by Harvard Univeristy student Zayed M. Yasin. The "Muslim American student said today that he intended [his speech] to inspire and unite his fellow Harvard University graduates... His...

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On May 31, 2002 the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported the Bush administration held a conference in Pittsburgh "to build support for allowing federal funds to pay for community services programs run by faith-based organizations... The conference, which is scheduled to travel to other cities, is an attempt to build momentum for the president's No Child Left Behind Act, which was passed in January... The act gives school districts more control of how they address student underachievement. With it, districts can create...

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On May 31, 2002 The San Francisco Chronicle reported that "several Bay Area mayors joined Jewish leaders... to condemn a surge in anti-Semitic incidents - temple arson, vandalism and slurs - that coincide with rising tensions in the Middle East... Mayors from San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley and other cities initiated a campaign called 'No Place for Hate' with the Anti-Defamation League. Their first act was to put a full-page ad in The Chronicle in which they pledged to enforce hate-crime laws... Despite the...

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/151/metro/Harvard_student_retitles_jihad_speech+.shtml

On May 31, 2002, The Boston Globe reported that Zayed Yasin, "a Harvard Univeristy senior, agreed yesterday to drop the title for his commencement speech. 'The American Jihad,' after it sparked criticism from hundreds of Harvard students... After two days of negotiations with a representative of Harvard's Jewish community...

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On May 31, 2002 The Columbus Dispatch reported that "an Islamic community center nearing completion in Hilliard [Ohio] has been designed to blend quietly into the neighborhood, without using minarets and other distinctive features of mosques in Muslim nations, its architect and developer said... Still, the Noor Center... incorporates religious features important to central Ohio's rapidly growing Muslim population, which has long felt a shortage of space for communal worship and cultural activities... The trustees emphasize...

Source: The Boston Globe

On May 30, 2002 The Boston Globe reported that political and religious leaders in Worcester [MA] condemned the spray painting of swastikas on the outside of City Hall and others found across from US Representative James McGovern's office... 'I think when acts of hate like this occur, it's important for the community to come together and condemn it,' said McGovern. 'I don't think we can let these acts of anti-Semitism go unchallenged'... McGovern said it was disappointing after the community had come together after the...

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/149/metro/At_Harvard_a_word_sparks_a_battle+.shtml

On May 29, 2002, The Boston Globe featured the article "At Harvard, a word sparks a battle." It reported that "Harvard University senior Zayed Yasin says his upcoming graduation-day speech, titled 'The American Jihad,' will be a call to action, not a call to war. But Yasin's planned use of the term jihad ... has triggered a...

Source: The Daily News of Los Angeles

On May 27, 2002 The Daily News of Los Angeles reported that the Wilsona School District trustees in Lake Los Angeles, CA "will take another stab at approving proposed guidelines for local pastors to give invocations at board meetings... The board will hold a special meeting Thursday to deal solely with the issue, which has generated controversy and high emotions in the community... The proposed guidelines, drawn up because of controversy after the first invocation mentioned Jesus Christ, say that invocations...

Source: New York Daily News

On May 26, 2002 the New York Daily News reported on a prayer meeting attended by Christians, Jews and Muslims in Bay Ridge, NY. The meeting was part of ongoing efforts "to remain united despite the crisis in the Middle East... Nearly 100 people from the three religions gathered... to pray for an end to the conflict abroad, and for continued calm in their neighborhoods... The prayer meeting was sponsored by the Unity Task Force, a group comprised of Bay Ridge religious and civic leaders who organized almost two years...

Source: The Seattle Times

On May 25, 2002 The Seattle Times featured an article on the ninth annual Sufism Symposium being held in Seattle, WA. "Event organizers expect more than 700 Sufis from around the world to attend the event... JoAnn Haymaker, spokeswoman for the [International Association of Sufism], said it's difficult to determine the number of Sufis in the world. There are an estimated 1 billion Muslims worldwide, and the association estimates 20 percent of those are Sufis... Celebrating differences among all religions and among Sufis...