Author: Alicia Gallegos

Source: South Bend Tribune

http://www.southbendtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090704/News01/907040336/1011/News

Like any great story about the struggle against adversity and fight to find freedom, Masoud and Shahnaz's journey begins the day they fell in love.

At the time, the Iranian couple knew only that they wanted to marry, even with risk of strict punishment...

Author: Rachel Zoll

Source: The Tennessean

Wire Service: AP

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20090704/NEWS06/907040317/1023/Acceptance+of+U.S.+Muslims+grows+among+other+faiths

Sayyid Syeed remembers an interfaith event several years ago when a Jewish leader went to embrace him, saw someone snapping a photo, then suddenly pulled back.

"He said...

Author: Jessica Terrell

Source: The Orange County Register

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/warren-convention-muslims-2483889-interfaith-want

Speaking to a crowd of nearly 8,000 Muslims at the Islamic Society of North America's annual convention in Washington D.C., Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren called on Muslims and Christians to form an interfaith coalition to combat prejudice and stereotypes.

...

Author: Paul Vitello

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/technology/internet/05twitter.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Things went smoothly for the first hour of the Twitter experiment at Trinity Church in Manhattan on Good Friday in April.

While hundreds of worshipers watched the traditional dramatization of the Crucifixion from pews in the church, one of New York’s oldest...

Author: Michael Slackman and Nazila Fathi

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/world/middleeast/05iran.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

An important group of religious leaders in Iran called the disputed presidential election and the new government illegitimate on Saturday, an act of defiance against the country’s supreme leader and the most public sign of a major split in the country’s...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8132320.stm

A Turkish game show is challenging atheists to reassess their views and win "the biggest prize ever".

Penitents Compete will bring together an Islamic imam, a Jewish rabbi, a Buddhist monk and a Greek Orthodox priest seeking to convert the atheists.

The prize for any converted contestants is an expenses-paid pilgrimage to a holy site of their chosen...

Author: Martin Petty

Source: Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSBKK154617._CH_.2400

When he heard the loud cracks of gunfire, Prapan Pormapat knew the insurgents had just claimed another victim.

An engine roared as two gunmen sped away on a motorcycle, leaving behind the body of a saffron-robed Buddhist monk in a pool of blood.

"Everyone here carries a gun now," said Prapan, a Buddhist...

Author: Anli Serfontein

Source: Ecumenical News International

http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=3146

Renounce Islamophobia, the general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, the Rev. Ishmael Noko, has urged world religious leaders at an inter religious congress in Kazakhstan.

Noko, a Zimbabwean, commended U.S. President Barack Obama for reaching out to Muslim communities and moving away from the language of the "war against terror...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8130624.stm

At least three people have been killed in violent clashes between mobs of Hindus and Muslims in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.

Two people died in the riots in the city of Mysore and a third was killed when police opened fire.

Violence began when the carcass of a pig was thrown into a mosque. A curfew has been imposed in the affected...

Author: Niraj Warikoo

Source: Detroit Free Press

http://www.freep.com/article/20090702/NEWS02/90702070/1005/NEWS03

Shi’ite Muslims from across the U.S. are coming to Dearborn for a conference this weekend centered on the life of Imam Ali, the son-in-law of Islam’s prophet.

Organized by the Muslim Congress, the three-day event starting Friday is expected to draw up to 1,500 Muslims, say conference organizers. And it...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: PBS Religion & Ethics Newsweekly

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/july-3-2009/faith-communities-and-disability/3440/

Reverend BILL GAVENTA (Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities): In every faith community there is a scriptural basis for welcome and hospitality. But you’ve also got congregations who live in cultures where people with disabilities...

Author: Norimitsu Onishi

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/world/asia/03jilbab.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

The three parties competing in Indonesia’s presidential election next week have plastered this city with campaign billboards and posters depicting, predictably, their presidential and vice presidential choices looking self-confident.

But one party, Golkar, has also put...

Author: Ben Eisen

Source: Inside Higher Ed

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/07/02/discrimination

Slma Shelbayah always wanted to be a Middle East television analyst. Now the former Georgia State University doctoral student and visiting instructor at the university's Middle East Institute is finding herself in the media for a different reason -- discrimination against her because of her Middle Eastern background.

Georgia...

Author: Reynolds D. Graves

Source: The Bay State Banner

http://www.baystatebanner.com/local13-2009-07-02

Area residents of various religious backgrounds gathered in Roxbury last weekend to celebrate the inauguration of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (ISBCC), an event that Mayor Thomas M. Menino said was not only the ceremonial opening of a building that has been in use for months, but also an official welcome of the Muslim community to...

Author: Mark Reynolds

Source: Daily Express

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/111055/Police-give-Muslims-in-cells-compasses-to-pray-towards-Mecca

Police will issue a compass to all Muslims detained in cells – so they can face Mecca when praying.

To make sure they face the holy site, the Norfolk force has already painted the ceiling of some cells to point them in the right direction...