Source: Beliefnet.com

Source: The Washington Times

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20021028-27312221.htm

On October 29, 2002 The Washington Times reported that "several Muslim social scientists from U.S. universities urged their fellow believers at a weekend conference in Washington to reform Islam's record on human rights, violence and treatment of women before Muslims demand full acceptance by Americans. 'We have to develop a culture of human rights and civil rights,' Muqtedar Khan,...

Source: The Oregonian

On October 28, 2002 The Oregonian reported that "faith leaders and followers gather at a Portland church to oppose an attack on Iraq and pray that others will join them. This demonstration -- for peace with Iraq -- came in the form of a worship service, beginning with a procession of about 20 faith leaders that included Christian clergy, a Jewish rabbi, a Zen Buddhist monk, a Sikh and others. About 50 people behind them in the honey-colored pews included Roman Catholics from Southeast Portland, Methodists from Oregon City, Muslims...

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=1688

On October 28, 2002 the Los Angeles Times reported that "led by the Rev. George Regas of the Progressive Religious Partnership, religious spokesmen in Los Angeles this week denounced the prospect of a preemptive war against Iraq as 'immoral, illegal and unwise.' The religious opponents of Bush's policy list a host of secular reasons for their position: Iraq has not declared war on the U.S.; there is...

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On October 27, 2002 The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that "many followers of the three faiths descended from the patriarch Abraham --- a vast majority of Americans --- accept war as inevitable. If it can't be avoided, their goal becomes to conduct war with integrity. Perhaps the best-known rules of warfare are the "just war" principles, conceived by St. Augustine in the late fourth century and refined by St. Thomas Aquinas and a chain of other Christian thinkers through the years... other...

Source: The Boston Globe

On October 27, 2002 The Boston Globe reported that "the piecemeal approach that John Allen Muhammad took to religion suggests that his fractured personality, more than his spiritual beliefs, led to the terrifying violence that killed at least 10 people. 'The fact that he shot black people shows that the Nation of Islam had nothing to do with it,' said Raqib Muied, who founded the Nation's Seattle mosque in 1963 and has since defected to another black Muslim group called the Muslim American Society. 'They tell me Timothy McVeigh...

Source: The New York Times

On October 27, 2002 The New York Times reported that "by many accounts, religion had always been a stabilizing factor in the life of John Allen Muhammad, who is charged with murder in the sniper rampage that killed 10 people in the Washington region. But as the behavior of the sniper suspect careened out of control this month, so did the character of the religious utterances -- furious proclamations of 'I am God' and belligerent telephone calls to priests -- that law enforcement officials attributed to him. A rapid and...

Source: The Columbian

On October 26, 2002 The Columbian reported that "local Muslims have not experienced any backlash as a result of the arrest of a Muslim in the Washington, D.C., sniper shootings, according to Shaaban Naim, president of the Islamic Society of Southwest Washington. John Berger of the Greater Vancouver Interfaith Association said he was a little worried. 'I'm concerned that there might be a backlash,' he said. 'But I have a bit of faith in this community. I have an implicit faith that we will weather this one too.' There were no...

Source: FinalCall

http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_71.shtml

On October 26, 2002 FinalCall reported on Louis Farrakhan's press conference on the sniper arrest. He said, "I know that I can speak for myself and the members of my family, and all the Muslim members of the Nation, and all Muslims and people of good will everywhere, that we are in sympathy with the victims of this horror. And we are in sympathy with the families of these victims. And we,...

Source: Omaha World-Herald

On October 26, 2002 Omaha World-Herald reported that "Some... conservative Christians, Jews and Muslims, object to [Halloween's] pagan roots. But Halloween, which many Americans will celebrate Thursday, actually has numerous ties to Christian faiths. Halloween has its origins in the pagan celebration of the Celtic New Year, which fell during harvest time, around the beginning of November. The Celts - who lived in what are today the British Isles and France - honored the New Year with several festivals, the most important of...

Source: The Associated Press

Source: The Dallas Morning News

On October 26, 2002 The Dallas Morning News reported that "according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations... more than a dozen Muslim Parents nationwide have been sued since September 2001 for custody of their children by non-Muslim ex-spouses and grandparents who don't want the children reared by the Muslim parent... That compares with two such lawsuits reported in the year leading up to the terrorist attacks. Most of the cases are scattered across the South and Midwest."

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On October 26, 2002 The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that "for many of metro Atlanta's 32,000 Muslims who gathered at area mosques for noon prayers Friday, the sniper suspect's faith was cause for consternation. Some said Muhammad had once again tarred the image of a peaceful religion, just as it was recovering from the shameful blow dealt by the Sept. 11 hijackers. Others disapprovingly noted that a true Muslim would never boast he is God, as the sniper did in a note at one of the shootings,...

Source: Council on Islamic-American Relations

On October 25, 2002 Council on Islamic-American Relations reported that "a security guard with the Smithsonian's Office of Protection Services in Washington, D.C., will be allowed to wear a religiously-mandated beard after intervention by CAIR. 'We appreciate the Smithsonian's concrete demonstration of its stated commitment to creating and maintaining a workplace free from religious discrimination,' said CAIR Civil Rights Consultant Hassan Mirza."

Source: ABC News

http://more.abcnews.go.com/sections/us/dailynews/islam_poll021025.html

On October 25, 2002 ABC News released the results of an ABCNEWS/Beliefnet poll on attitudes of Americans towards Islam. "Amid broad public unfamiliarity with Islam, doubts about the religion's tenets have grown. More than a third of Americans now don't think it teaches respect for other beliefs, and nearly a quarter believe Islam encourages violence against non-...