Source: UPI

http://upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=24122001-033546-7201r

On December 24, 2001, UPI reported on the "Fund to soothe wounds of hate." It noted that "A Sikh temple in Palermo, N.Y., and an Episcopal church in Hanna City, Ill., will receive cash gifts from a unique Boston fund this Christmas ... The Boston Piano Religious Trust gives $500 grants to houses of worship damaged or destroyed in hate crimes." Gobind Sadan USA, a Sikh center in New York, and St. John's...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On December 23, 2001, The Houston Chronicle featured an article on the "Sacred Sites" of Houston, TX. "Houston has thousands of houses, centers and buildings of worship and prayer for literally every faith known: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and others. What it does not have is the large-scale, sacred architecture built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and found in older, major cities like New York, according to Stephen Fox, a Rice University architectural historian... Compared with those other...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On December 22, 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported that "December is the time at Christian private schools for lessons and carols, for Advent wreaths and archangels--whether you're Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or still sampling religions. Although some prep schools remain enclaves for certain faiths and cultures, other religiously affiliated schools enroll students of all traditions while making no apologies for holding to the schools' holiday heritages... 'Most schools, even though they may want to ground children of that...

Source: 12News.com

http://www.12news.com/headline/Sodhi_12212001.html

On December 21, 2001, 12News.com reported "Slain Sikh's Family Receives Outpouring of Community Support." It noted that "More than 10,000 people have sent letters, notes and e-mails of sympathy to the family of Balbir Singh Sodhi since the Sikh was shot to death at his Mesa store in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Mesa United Way officials added to those condolences Thursday,...

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

On December 20, 2001, The Christian Science Monitor reported that "the popularity of online religion grew gradually over the past year, but then, amid a heightened sense of vulnerability in the aftermath of Sept. 11, Americans turned in droves to religion and spirituality websites... Many of those sites responded with an array of services and special events, highlighting the unique role a virtual community can play in moments of spiritual crisis... Some 28 million people - or 25 percent of Internet users - now say they...

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

http://www.jsonline.com/lifestyle/religion/dec01/6854.asp

On December 20, 2001, The MIlwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that "Wiccans and followers of other nature-based faiths across Wisconsin are reaching back to the dawn of time today to celebrate the winter solstice with sunlight, songs, flames, feasts and prayerful reverence... The Wiccan religion has caught the public's attention in recent weeks because of controversy over...

Source: The New Republic

http://www.thenewrepublic.com/122401/diarist122401.html

The December 24, 2001 edition of The New Repbulic features the article "All for One." The article details the "post-September 11 paradox" of "South Asian" identity. It continues, "While the war on terrorism has inflamed religious and national divisions on the subcontinent ... in the United States it has probably done more to unify America's disparate South Asian communities than any...

Source: The Oswego Palladium-Times

On December 19, 2001, The Oswego Palladium-Times published the editorial "Alleged hate crime brings shame to county." It described the arson at Gobind Sadan as "a black eye for Oswego County." The crime "has drawn national media attention, while the investigation is being assisted by not only local law authorities, but state and federal officials as well. ... Oswego County District Attorney Dennis Hawthorne said, 'The seeds for such conduct of those arrested were planted in their minds for several years, possibly by an...

Source: www.satyacircle.com

http://www.satyacircle.com/rathod3.html

On December 19, 2001, Satyacircle.com published another view on South Asian solidarity in the editorial "E Pluribus Unum: Out of Many, One." It noted, "While the invocation of this phrase certainly is appropriate for America as a whole, its message is particularly relevant to the South Asian-American community, which has been placed under considerable strain over the past few weeks. As increasing numbers of South Asian...

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

On December 19, 2001, The Christian Science Monitor featured a lengthy article on interfaith marriages saying that "at holiday time, interfaith couples can teach the nation about getting along with those of different religions." The article focused on several families and how they negotiate the holiday season as interfaith families. "Most sociologists believe that the number of interfaith unions will continue to increase in the United States... Currently, 50 percent of Jews marry non-Jews, and half of Catholics marry...

Source: Newsday

On December 19, 2001, Newsday reported that a "fire that swept through the gift shop of the world's largest Gothic cathedral," the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. "From its inception, the cathedral was chartered not just as the mother church of the Episcopal Diocese of New York but as a house of prayer whose bronze doors were open to all people... Indeed, in recent years, sermons have been delivered by rabbis, Zen Buddhists and African animists. The Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, retired U.S. Army Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf...

Source: The Providence Journal

http://projo.com/cgi-bin/story.pl/opinion/06719201.htm

On December 18, 2001, The Providence Journal featured an opinion piece by Dr. Doug Hicks "Workplace understanding without 'Secret Santas.'" It began: "The best debates about religious diversity take place beside the water cooler in the December-holiday season at the office." Further, "September's terror has forced Americans to take a fresh look at themselves. They have discovered...

Source: The Providence Journal

http://projo.com/cgi-bin/story.pl/opinion/06719201.htm

On December 18, 2001, The Providence Journal featured an editorial on holidays in the workplace. "Many bosses decide, with a wink and a nod, to recast their Christmas parties as 'holiday' parties, but then still decorate in green and red and play Christmas carols. Such watering-down seems to work. The Christians can see their tradition in abstract form, and non-Christians find it...

Source: The Boston Globe

On December 18, 2001, The Boston Globe reported that "President Bush celebrated Eid al-Fitr yesterday, inviting Muslim children to the White House for holiday cookies and a poem... Bush noted that Eid, the three-day Muslim festival that... marks the end of the Ramadan holy month, coincides this year with the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and the Christian season of Advent. 'So it's a good time for people of these great faiths - Islam, Judaism, and Christianity - to remember how much we have in common,' he said... Until he declared war...

Source: The New York Times

On December 17, 2001, The New York Times reported that "there is a creche in the East Room of the White House this year, as there has been every December since... 1967. But last week there was also a Hanukkah party with a kosher buffet among the glittering forest of White House Christmas trees, and last month there was the first iftar dinner held in the Executive Mansion, complete with fresh dates and Muslim prayers, to break the daily fast during Ramadan... The many gods in American life are alive and well at the White House,...