Source: The Denver Post

On December 25, 2000, The Denver Post reported that while sensitivity to different cultures during the winter holiday season has increased, teachers, students and families must still be careful about how they treat the holidays. In schools, Christmas concerts, Santa Claus art projects and other traditional holiday celebrations are being replaced with winter festivals and global holiday rituals. Cory Elementary School begins the season by taking its students to a production which includes different religious celebrations. Efforts such...

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/12/25/ED146636.DTL

On December 25, 2000, The San Francisco Chronicle published a story entitled "For Interfaith Couples, It's Holiday Mix 'n Match." The article is about the ways in which people must compromise in order to...

Source: Star Tribune

On December 25, 2000, the Star Tribune reported on the unique ways in which the holidays are celebrated in the home of a junior in high school, who lives in a home with a Jewish father and a Catholic mother. They celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas each year.

Source: St. Petersburg Times

On December 24, 2000, the St. Petersburg Times reported that many Jews enjoy some aspects of the Christmas season. Sheila Weinstock, a Jew who grew up in Boston, said she never felt left out of the Christian holiday. Although she does not celebrate Christmas, she does not resent it, either. She said she enjoys the sacred connotations that go along with Christmas. Clara Solomon, also a Jew, said she loves the season. "Solomon always has loved sparkly things. For a time, she sold gold and diamonds at the Wagon Wheel Flea Market....

Source: The Washington Post

On December 24, 2000 The Washington Post reported on the diversity of religious structures along New Hampshire Avenue, located just outside the District line. The first of these is the elaborately decorated Cambodian Buddhist Temple, followed by the "Oz-like spires" of the Mormon Temple and "the onion domes" of St. Andrew's Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral. The Muslim Community Center, including community center, mosque, and minaret, and the Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church are the two final landmarks along this eclectic...

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/12/22/PN181721.DTL

On December 22, 2000, The San Francisco Chronicle published an article entitled "In The Spirit Of The Season; Peninsula Religious Leaders Share Their Thoughts And Feelings About The Holidays." The views of...

Source: Omaha World-Herald

On December 22, 2000, the Omaha World-Herald reported that Omaha Columbian Elementary School has a Christmas tree in the office, a Hannukah display in the trophy case and Ramadan books in the library during the holiday season. While the attempt has been to expose children to a multitude of cultures during this season, it is still difficult for those who do not celebrate Christmas not to feel left out. Sahar, al-Turk, a Muslim who has two daughters in school, said she credits the schools with providing students with the chance to...

Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

On December 22, 2000, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that President and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton greeted 25 third-graders from the congregation of B'nai Tzedek in the oval office in recognition of Hannukah. The children sang a song about spinning dreidels and also lit one candle on a candelabrum.

Source: The New York Times

On December 21, 2000, The New York Times reported that President-elect George W. Bush met with about 30 ministers and other religious leaders, many of them black, to talk about his plans to expand the roles of the churches and charities in federal welfare programs. Bush asked the leaders for suggestions about how to proceed with "faith based" initiatives, which includes financing churches and private charities to take over government welfare functions as well as using tax breaks and other incentives to spark donations....

Source: The Arizona Republic

On December 21, 2000, The Arizona Republic reported that interfaith couples celebrate an array of holidays during this season. Phyllis and Herb Tragethon are but one example. She is Jewish, and he is Christian. Even when Hannukah and Christmas overlap, they celebrate both. " 'This is his biggest holiday, and it means a lot to him,' she said. 'We are very strong in our religions, and they are different, and we have to respect those differences. That's how it works.' " She goes to Church with him on Christmas and Easter, and he...

Source: The Washington Post

On December 21, 2000, The Washington Post reported that President-elect George Bush met with religious leaders in Austin yesterday to talk about his "faith-based" initiative. The event was also an attempt to gather support from black voters, only 9 percent of whom voted for Bush. The group included a rabbi, academics and representatives of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Islamic Center of America. The largest representation was from African Americans. Civil rights leaders and representatives from black...

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On December 20, 2000, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Vince Gastgeb, an Allegheny County Councilman, is trying to gather votes to pass a resolution that supports keeping the Ten Commandments mounted on the side of the courthouse. He needed 10 votes, but he was one short. The council voted to further debate the issue and get advice from county lawyers. Americans United for Separation of Church and State is threatening to sue the county over the mounted Ten Commandments. This nonprofit organization says that the...

Source: The New York Times

On December 19, 2000, The New York Times reported that "[New York City's] newest wave of immigrants, for whom Christianity is often an alien and mystifying religion, have even more radically sliced and cut, discarded what does not work and ignored what is inconvenient to fashion a palatable Christmas. The mutations represent at once the weary resignation of immigrants who must learn to accommodate, yet struggle to cling to the traditions and culture they have left behind." Many immigrants say that they celebrate Christmas as a day...

Source: The New York Times

On December 19, 2000, The New York Times reported on the Rabbi Meir Kahane Memorial Fund, which was established in memory of "the radical Brooklyn Jew and Israeli politician who was assassinated" 10 years ago. The fund supports the "political and religious activities in Israel" of Kahane's son Binyamin, who has "been associated with terrorist groups." Members of the Kahane political organizations "are still seen organizing anti-Arab demonstrations and handing out literature." In 1995, the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai...

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

On December 18, 2000, The Christian Science Monitor reported on a Christian and her appreciation of Ramadan. She focuses on fasting, because it requires self-restraint. As she understands it, fasting is a way for people to turn away from materially satisfying the physical body and instead, turn to spirituality, to "a realm beyond the physical and to the home of the perfect and divine." She believes that the spirituality emphasized during Ramadan is not restricted to one religion or only one time of the year. In a...