Interfaith

46 Groups Sign Letter Protesting Faith-Based Legislation

July 16, 2001

Source: Americans United for the Separation of Church and State

http://www.au.org/press/pr71601.htm

On July 16, 2001, the Americans United for Separation of Church and State issued a press release reporting that "nearly four dozen religious, labor and public policy organizations have sent a joint letter to the U.S. House of Representatives urging members to vote against the Community Solutions Act (H.R. 7), a bill advancing President George W. Bush's 'faith-based initiative.'...Signers...

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Muslim Leaders Protest Muslim Student's Expulsion from White House

July 16, 2001

Source: Newsweek

On July 16, 2001, Newsweek reported on Abdullah Al-Arian, the Arab-American student who was expelled from the White House. "Al-Arian had registered Democratic, but he was so encouraged by Bush's outreach to the Arab community that he voted for him and took a job this summer as a congressional intern...But his optimism faded his first week in Washington, D.C. [when he] was ejected from a White House annex by a security guard, on an erroneous tip that the student had terrorist connections."

Salvation Army's Position on Gays Stirs Controversy

July 15, 2001

Source: The Washington Post

On July 15, 2001, The Washington Post reported on the Salvation Army's appeal to the White House for protection from state and local laws prohibiting discrimination against gay employees. "As a church, the Army is intolerant of sin, but at the same time, it chooses to engage with the secular world through its charitable and social work...Last week's controversy stemmed from disclosure of...a 'firm commitment' from the White House to shield government-funded religious groups from state laws barring discrimination against gay...

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New Book Helps Minorities Succeed in Workplace

July 15, 2001

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On July 15, 2001, The San Francisco Chronicle reported that "in her book From the Outside In, written with Sandra Slipp and Vincent Ford, New Jersey management specialist Renee Blank offers seven strategies to help people succeed" in the workplace, especially when they feel like outsiders.

Diana Eck's New Book Examines Religious Diversity in America

July 14, 2001

Source: The Hartford Courant

On July 14, 2001, The Hartford Courant reported on Diana Eck's new book, A New Religious America. "'The religious landscape of America has changed radically in the past 30 years,' Eck writes, 'but most of us have not yet begun to see the dimensions and scope of that change.'" The main part of the book focuses on Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam in America.

Religious Leaders Ask Congregations to Pool Tax Refunds

July 14, 2001

Source: The Washington Post

On July 14, 2001, The Washington Post reported that "at the annual meeting of the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church...the finance chairman of [the] congregation...called on the area's 200,000 United Methodists to donate" to their churches the "advance payment'" check they will receive as part of the $ 1.35 trillion tax cut President Bush has just signed into law. "The Union of American Hebrew Congregations, which represents 1.5 million Reform Jews, also sees the potential of pooling rebates for...

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Muslim Leaders Protest Muslim Student's Expulsion from White House

July 13, 2001

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-000057480jul13.story

On July 13, 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported that "at a recent get-together with White House officials, Muslim leaders expected to discuss President Bush's [faith-based initiative]. Instead, the session produced yet another setback for Muslims struggling to find their place in the high-stakes game of influence in Washington [when] the Secret Service...

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Bush Needs to Start Over with Faith-Based Initiative

July 13, 2001

Source: The Washington Post

On July 13, 2001, The Washington Post published an editorial on Bush's faith-based initiative, which asserted that "President Bush's faith-based initiative is in deep trouble because it lacks a constituency committed to its success, and because every move the administration makes to appease the idea's opponents weakens support from likely allies...The administration needs to start over...And if religious congregations were required to set up separate tax-exempt organizations to receive government money...many of the...

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Faith-Based Initiatives Are Government-Funded Bigotry

July 13, 2001

Source: The Boston Globe

On July 13, 2001, The Boston Globe published an opinion piece by Derrick Jackson, about Bush's faith-based initiative, in which he wrote, "It was fortunate for the debate on faith-based initiatives that the Salvation Army was the first major organization to trip and fall into the ravine between church and state. When an all-American charity splatters its political innards all over the valley, it cannot be ignored how the initiative of President Bush is a government subsidy for faith-based bigotry.

Faith-Based Initiative Has Little Support in Congress

July 12, 2001

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On July 12, 2001, The Houston Chronicle reported that "with his signature proposal for faith-based federal spending increasingly imperiled, President Bush...made rare overtures to lawmakers in an effort to get the issue back on track...Furor [that] erupted over a deal his administration allegedly cut with the Salvation Army [is]...the latest setback...The administration has been steadily scaling back various aspects of the once-ambitious program, amid criticism, opposition and a lack of interest in the newly Democratic...

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Nonbeliever Coalition Opposes Faith-Based Initiative

July 9, 2001

Source: U.S. Newswire

http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/Current_Releases/0709-129.html

On July 9, 2001, U.S. Newswire reported that a "coalition of Atheist, Freethought, Secular Humanist and other nonbeliever organizations...under the banner of 'The Day That Counts' will hold a media conference...in Washington, D.C...The goal is to encourage the nation's 27,000,000 persons who define themselves as Atheists, Agnostics, Freethinker, Humanists or other...

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Many Services Exist to Link Faith-Based Services to Government Funding

July 7, 2001

Source: The Dallas Morning News

On July 7, 2001, The Dallas Morning News published a list of primers for faith groups that want to seek out government funding for their service programs. The Charitable Choice Handbook for Ministry Leaders and A Guide to Charitable Choice are published by the Center for Public Justice (http://www.cpjustice.org/), a "Christian outfit that promotes involvement." Ten Good Questions is issued by the Polis Center, a research center at Indiana-Purdue University (...

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