Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On January 28, 2001, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that "the Rev. Larry Summerour knows that most people in [Chickamauga], where the South claimed its last important victory in the Civil War, want to stick with the current Georgia flag. They consider the plan for a new flag a slap in the face. 'But I feel the need to say it,' said the 56-year-old pastor of Elizabeth Lee United Methodist Church. 'It is a flag of divisiveness.'" Most preachers in the area have avoided talking about the flag debate...

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On January 28, 2001, The Columbus Dispatch reported that "hundreds of central Ohioans this weekend are organizing prayers and fund-raisers to benefit victims of the Indian earthquake while they await news of family members living near the epicenter." 30 to 40 percent of Bharatiya Hindu Temple's 2,000 members have relatives in Gujarat state, the area hardest-hit by the earthquake. The 800 members of the Gujarat Mandal Association of Central Ohio spent the weekend calling India to learn what happened to their relatives. Special...

Source: The Denver Post

On January 28, 2001, The Denver Post published an article on the improvement in Jewish-Catholic relations in the past few decades. Rabbi James Rudin thinks that "more good was accomplished in Jewish-Catholic relations in the last 35 years than in the rest of the millennium." He said "most of the movement has come from changes in attitudes by the Roman Catholic Church." There has been "a long line of overtures and apologies made by the Catholic Church in the last three decades of the 20th century." Rudin said such apologies -- for...

Source: The Times-Picayune

On January 28, 2001, The Times-Picayune reported on a workshop on Buddhist studies in the Covington-Mandeville area of Louisiana, which was led by meditator and Buddhist practitioner Ngawang Chotak, a former monk. "The focus was 'Eight Verses on Transforming the Mind,' which is one of the most important texts from a genre of Tibetan Buddhist spiritual writings...Chotak discussed ways to be equipped emotionally to deal with the ups and downs of life...Buddhist thought teaches that trials and tribulations are not what life's about,...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On January 27, 2001, The Houston Chronicle reported that "U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman's bid for the Democratic vice presidency generated a flurry of discussion during the presidential campaign about the role of religion in public life. Lieberman, the first Jew nominated for the vice presidency by a major party, never shied away from speaking publicly about his faith." Melissa Rogers, executive director of the newly launched Pew Forum on Religion...

Source: The Seattle Times

Source: The Boston Globe

On January 27, 2001, The Boston Globe reported that "Jesus was a popular figure at President Bush's inauguration." The invocation by the Rev. Franklin Graham was closed with a prayer "'in the name of the father, and of the son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit.'" The benediction by the Rev. Kirbyjon H. Caldwell ended with the words, "'We respectfully submit this humble prayer in the name that's above all other names, Jesus the Christ.' Newspapers around the country have been publishing letters from readers offended...

Source: USA TODAY

On January 24, 2001, USA Today reported that "when President George W. Bush called out to churches, synagogues and mosques in his inaugural address on Saturday, his speech came sandwiched between two prayers invoking Jesus by name, rather than the usual blessing for the new administration with overarching references to God. While many thrilled to hear clergy make the nation's greatest podium a pulpit for Jesus, others complained that such prayers leave out many Americans." Martin Marty, a leading scholar of American religious history,...

Source: U.S. News...

Source: Star Tribune

On January 15, 2001, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported on the "frequent fights and verbal conflicts" between African-American and Somali students at Minneapolis' Roosevelt High School. Student council member Matt Oxendale attributes the conflict to the Somali students' "trying too hard and too fast to fit in." Senior Fred Powell said the Somalis "think they're better than us." Another senior said that the fact that both groups are the most populous at the school sets up "a subconscious power struggle...Junior Nimco Ahmed said...

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On January 15, 2001, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Americans United for the Separation of Church and State is demanding that a 50-by-80-inch bronze plaque inscribed with the Ten Commandments and a biblical passage be removed from the Allegheny County Courthouse wall. Representatives of the International Reform Bureau presented the plaque on April 8, 1918. The nonprofit organization says the plaque "violates the First Amendment's establishment clause -- 'Congress shall make no law...

Source: Star Tribune

On January 14, 2001, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that many members of Generation X, born between 1960 and 1980, "treat religion more as a matter of personal choice than a duty or responsibility handed down from past generations...In an August 2000 Gallup Poll, some 85 percent of Gen X respondents said religion was important to them personally and more than 60 percent said religion can solve all or most of today's problems...What some scholars and church leaders fear, however, is that this increasingly personal faith...

Source: The Times-Picayune

On January 13, 2001, The Times-Picayune reported on a "new study by Public Agenda, a secular, nonpartisan think tank that interviewed 1,507 Americans in the three weeks after the presidential election." According to the researchers, many Americans fault "a general loss of religious influence" for family instability and loss of civility. The study showed that a majority of these same Americans say it does not matter which religion becomes more influential in America. It also showed that less than half of respondents think that a...

Source: The Kansas City Star

On January 13, 2001, The Kansas City Star reported on religious leaders' hopes and fears for the new century. One area of concern is the direction of the economy. With Bush's "proposal of tax cuts that will benefit the wealthy," said the Rev. Loy C. Drew of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Kansas City, the poor will be coming to faith-based organizations more often for help with food, shelter, and the payment of bills. Another area of concern are the problems in the Middle East. Ahmed El-Sherif, president of the...

Source: The Tampa Tribune

On January 13, 2001, The Tampa Tribune reported that "the Unitarian Universalist Church of St. Petersburg put together a four-day conference, 'Religions in Dialogue: From Conflict to Trust,' featuring international religious leaders and local clergy." The goal of the conference was to foster communication among different religions and to help them live peacefully together. The conference included discussions about Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., as two examples of men who were committed to interfaith cooperation. It...