Source: Los Angeles Times

On December 25, 1999, the Los Angeles Times published an article on the crossing of Christmas traditions to different Christian and non-Christian faiths. In many Latin American countries, the Catholic celebration of Christmas includes las posadas, a nine-day series of festivities from December 16-24 that involves celebrants dressed up as Mary and Joseph in a procession followed by meals and activities. In Pico-Union, California, St. Thomas the Apostle Church, joined neighboring St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral for the second...

Source: The Denver Post

On December 24, 1999, The Denver Post reported that an exhibit entitled 'Holiday Traditions' at the Aurora History Museum in Aurora, Colorado runs on Tuesday and Sundays through January 23rd. The exhibit shows the diversity of seven holidays around the time of the winter solstice. The holidays include Diwali, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and the Chinese and Vietnamese New Year celebrations.

Source: The New York Times

On December 24, 1999, The New York Times reported that federal judge Alfred M. Wolin of the United States District Court in Newark denied a motion brought by the ACLU against Wall Township in New Jersey to dismantle a holiday display on public property. In a public courtyard next to the municipal building in Wall Township, there is a Nativity scene and a menorah. The ACLU filed a lawsuit against Wall Township in February 1999 for its holiday display in December of 1998. When the township erected another such display this year on...

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On December 24, 1999, The San Francisco Chronicle published an article on how several two-faith families celebrate multiple holidays. Vicki Roberts, who is Jewish, and Mark Roberts, who is Christian, combine the decorations of the house for their two daughters, who are being raised Jewish. Vicki stated: "Sure, half the house is decorated for Christmas, the other half is for Hanukkah...All it means to us is that we love the celebration of Christmas, the lights and the smell of the trees and candles. It really doesn't...

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

On December 19, 1999, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published an article on the controversy over the selection of a new chaplain for the House of Representatives to replace James David Ford, a Lutheran minister who is retiring in January of 2000. The controversy began when a bipartisan committee of 18 members of Congress selected a Catholic priest, Father Timothy J. O'Brien of Marquette University, as their top choice. Recommendations were then forwarded to the top three leaders of the House. Democratic leader Richard...

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

On December 8, 1999, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, stated that Southern Baptists "have crossed the line of responsible witness" in calling for 100,000 Baptists to come to Chicago seeking converts next summer. Eckstein stated: "I have broken with the Southern Baptist leadership, and I would urge all Jewish institutions to do likewise...I want to make it clear that it doesn't mean Jewish institutions should break with every...

Source: The New York Times

On December 4, 1999, The New York Times published an article on the recent tensions between the SBC and many Jewish organizations around the country. The proposal to send 100,000 Baptists to the Chicago area next summer for the purpose of seeking converts prompted Yechiel Eckstein, a prominent Chicago rabbi involved in interfaith relations between Christians and Jews, to state that the SBC has "clearly crossed the line, from general evangelizing and witnessing - which I strongly affirm - and breached the trust by proselytizing...

Source: Harvard Unversity Gazette

On December 2, 1999 the Harvard Unversity Gazette published an article entitled Students Focus on Faith .

Source: The New York Times

On November 29, 1999, The New York Times reported that the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago sent a letter to SBC president Rev. Paige Patterson to reconsider sending thousands of missionaries to Chicago for the summer of 2000 because it could incite violence against Jews, Hindus, and Muslims. The letter stated: "While we are confidant that your volunteers would come with entirely peaceful intentions, a campaign of the nature and scope you envision could contribute to a climate conducive to hate crimes." The...

Source: The Plain Dealer

On November 25, 1999, The Plain Dealer reported that St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church in Seven Hills, Ohio held a Festival of Gratitude on Sunday, November 21st. The interfaith gathering was sponsored by the Intercultural Community Council of Greater Cleveland and the United Nations Association of Cleveland. The service included Catholics, Protestants, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, American Indians, Muslims, Baha'is, and others from the community.

Source: The Boston Globe

On November 22, 1999, The Boston Globe reported that about 60 people gathered outside the Beacon Hill Baptist Church on Cambridge Street in Boston to protest the SBC prayer guide to convert Hindus. The rally was organized by the New England Hindus Against Religious Intolerance. The prayer guide states: "Hindus seek power and blessing through the worship of gods and goddesses and the demonic powers that lay behind them...Hindus lack a concept of sin or personal responsibility...they are slaves bound by fear and tradition...and the...

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

On November 20, 1999, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Bishop Peter Rogness, head of the Greater Milwaukee Synod for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, issued a statement in reaction to Catholic Archbishop Rempert Weakland's public apology for centuries of anti-Semitic words and actions by the Catholic Church. Rogness stated: "For the leader of the largest faith community in the area to make such a speech was profound...His words struck close to home. The second-largest faith community in the...

Source: The New York Times

On November 20, 1999, The New York Times reported that the Rev. Paige Patterson of the SBC may have a joint meeting with representatives of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York on the issue of messianic Jewish groups. Letters have gone back and forth between the two organizations since the SBC published a prayer guide at the time of the High Holy Days to convert Jews to Christianity. Though the format of the meeting has yet to be determined, it is most likely that a one-to-one discussion will take place between...

Source: The Buffalo News

On November 20, 1999, The Buffalo News published an article on interfaith Thanksgiving celebrations, including the 17th annual intercultural-interfaith service being held at the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Buffalo. The service, sponsored by the Network of Religious Communities and the Western New York Chapter of the National Conference for Community and Justice, will include a "circle of sharing," during which a representative from a faith group will present a symbol of his or her tradition and explain its meaning. Faiths...

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

On November 12, 1999, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Milwaukee's Roman Catholic Archbishop, Rempert Weakland, admitted to centuries of Catholic prejudice against Jews in an interfaith Catholic-Jewish service at Congregation Shalom in Milwaukee on Sunday, November 7th. Weakland stated: "I acknowledge that we Catholics, by preaching a doctrine that the Jewish people were unfaithful, hypocritical, and God-killers, reduced the human dignity of our Jewish brothers and sisters, and created attitudes that made reprisals against them...