Source: The Associated Press

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Feb/01/il/il11afaith.html

On February 1, 2003 The Associated Press reported that "Americans are proud of their freedom of religion, and the work of J. Gordon Melton shows they have a whole lot of religions to choose from...The Roman Catholic Church may be huge but it's only one among 116 Catholic denominations. Orthodox Christians have an even higher total, and Protestantism...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On February 1, 2003 The Houston Chronicle reported that "[in Houston], as in other American cities, Jews are taking steps to thwart Christian missionaries targeting them. In Houston, they also are girding for an upcoming Jews for Jesus campaign aimed at the city's Jewish community... The Jews for Jesus campaign in 2004 or 2005 will be 'an all-out intensive effort to make the Messianicship of Jesus an unavoidable issue to the Jews of Houston,' said Susan Perlman, a San Francisco-based founder of Jews for Jesus... The group...

Source: The Washington Post

On January 30, 2003 The Washington Post reported that "while some lawmakers have complained about ministers praying 'in Jesus's name,' some religious leaders are saying they don't see why they should eliminate Jesus from a prayer to accommodate other faiths... The matter arose when, in recent Senate sessions, some ministers didn't stick to the Senate policy of making the blessings ecumenical... The latest episode came last week when the Rev. Reginald Thomas of Greater Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church in Baltimore ended...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On January 26, 2003 the Los Angeles Times reported that "Irvine... has emerged as one of the nation's most religiously diverse suburbs... Here, there's a Buddhist temple that can house 42 monks, a Korean church that boasts 4,000 members and a $50-million K-12 Jewish day school. There's a $ 4-million Islamic elementary school, the county's largest Greek Orthodox Church and a university run by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod... Ahead is a $37-million Jewish community center and a Mormon temple, which sits just outside Irvine'...

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40377-2003Jan24.html

On January 25, 2003 The Washington Post reported that "the massive appropriations bill approved by the Senate late Thursday includes a little-noticed amendment that would cut off funding for a Justice Department program that requires male immigrants from two dozen predominantly Muslim countries to register and be fingerprinted by the Immigration and...

Source: Mercury News

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/entertainment/5029347.htm

On January 25, 2003 the Mercury News reported that "in 1991, Joan Hawxhurst, the granddaughter of a Baptist minister, married Steve Bertman, the grandson of Jewish immigrants. Soon, she began looking for organizations to help her negotiate the unpredictable religious terrain she and her husband found themselves exploring. There wasn't much out there that was 'open-minded...

Source: The Associated Press

http://www.fac.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=17490

On January 24, 2003 The Associated Press reported that "the Bush administration wants to give religious organizations access to federal housing money that could be used to erect or refurbish buildings where religious activities are held, so long as the groups also provide social services in those buildings... Critics say the proposal, part of an array of 'faith-based'...

Source: The Associated Press

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAVLTRCCBD.html

On January 24, 2003 The Associated Press reported that "a state scholarship program decided to give funds to a college student who is majoring in religious studies, reversing a stance against financial aid for such programs...The decision followed a federal lawsuit filed in December by the American Center for Law and Justice on behalf of Michael Woods Nash. The center, founded by televangelist Pat...

Source: The Boston Globe

On January 23, 2003 The Boston Globe reported that "parents asked school officials at a School Committee meeting last week to do more to accommodate students who want to observe the Jewish High Holy Days - if making those days holidays is not practical, parents said... The Regional School Committee of Berlin and Boylston postponed until Feb. 5 a decision on whether to close for the holy days so committee members could get more information about the district's demographics and policies in neighboring communities... Committee...

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0123/p11s02-lire.html

On January 23, 2003 The Christian Science Monitor reported that "churches, mosques, and synagogues look for ways to make their buildings more energy efficient, both to heed ethical imperatives against waste, and also to save money... Churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples get help for stewardship efforts in EPA's Energy Star program, which identifies equipment, appliances, and...

Source: The Indianapolis Star

http://www.indystar.com/print/articles/9/017487-1559-009.html

On January 23, 2003 The Indianapolis Star "asked David Suzuki... [whose] parents were imprisoned for about three years while the United States and the Allied forces were at war with Japan... to compare the treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II to the treatment of Arab-Americans and Muslims since the start of the war on terrorism and in anticipation of...

Source: Tolerance.org

http://www.tolerance.org/news/article_hate.jsp?id=685

On January 23, 2003 Tolerance.org reported that "the latest edition of Maxim magazine, in an alleged 'humor' article headlined 'Maxim’s Kick-Ass Workout,' depicts a strapping man in a 'Muscle' T-shirt beating up an image of Mahatma Gandhi... 'My first reaction is, ‘How stupid.’ My next reaction is, ‘How sad,' said Michelle Naef, administrator of the M.K. Gandhi...

Source: Detroit Free Press

http://www.freep.com/news/religion/god23_20030123.htm

On January 23, 2003 the Detroit Free Press reported that the "war with Iraq is exposing long-simmering tensions in metro Detroit's interfaith community, and they are likely to spill into the public sphere at the annual World Sabbath of Religious Reconciliation on Saturday in Bloomfield Hills... The annual observance, which has been promoted...

Source: The Wall Street Journal

http://www.becketfund.org/press/KortenOpEd-012203.html

On January 22, 2003 The Wall Street Journal printed an editorial by Patrick Korten that stated, "at the urging of groups like the National League of Cities, the American Planning Association, and the International Municipal Lawyers Association, many local zoning ordinances have morphed into instruments for sharply restricting, or even excluding altogether, new churches, synagogues...

Source: Religion Writers

http://www.religionwriters.com/public/tips/012003/012003d.html

On January 20, 2003 the Religion Writers reported that "last weekend's antiwar rallies in Washington, D.C., and San Francisco showed that efforts to avert war in Iraq, quietly spearheaded by religious groups months ago, are accelerating. The movement has expanded beyond the traditional 'peace churches' to include members and leaders of most denominations and faiths....