Author: Erika Jacobson Moore

Source: Leesburg Today

http://www.leesburg2day.com/articles/2009/12/03/news/9970display120109.txt

Taking the Grinch out of Loudoun's holiday season, the Board of Supervisors today voted to overturn the decision of the Courthouse Grounds and Facility Task Force to prohibit displays of all kinds on the grounds of the historic courthouse in Leesburg.

The decision to allow all religious...

Author: Ian Urbina

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/us/02atheist.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

An unusual holiday message began appearing this week in the nation’s capital on the sides of buses and trains.

“No god? ... No problem!” reads the advertisement featuring the smiling faces of people wearing Santa Claus hats. “Be good for goodness’ sake.”

Over the...

Author: Peter Capella

Source: Brisbane Times

http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-world/switzerland-confronts-backlash-over-minaret-ban-20091130-k0ub.html

Switzerland confronted an international backlash and charges of intolerance on Monday as the country's Muslim leaders urged calm over a shock vote to ban new minarets.

The Vatican joined Muslim leaders in...

Author: Peter Capella

Source: Brisbane Times

http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-world/switzerland-confronts-backlash-over-minaret-ban-20091130-k0ub.html

Switzerland confronted an international backlash and charges of intolerance on Monday as the country's Muslim leaders urged calm over a shock vote to ban new minarets.

The Vatican joined Muslim leaders in...

Author: Tariq Ramadan

Source: The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/nov/29/swiss-vote-ban-minarets-fear

It wasn't meant to go this way. For months we had been told that the efforts to ban the construction of minarets in Switzerland were doomed. The last surveys suggested around 34% of the Swiss population would vote for this shocking initiative. Last Friday, in a meeting organised in...

Author: Duke Helfand

Source: The Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jihad29-2009nov29,0,6075196.story

Jihad Turk -- clean-shaven and youthful -- is telling an interfaith audience that the prophet Muhammad traces his lineage to Abraham, the biblical patriarch. 

Turk explains to the crowd of mostly Christians and Jews that Muslims also revere Jesus and Moses as prophets, and that Islam...

Author: Edward Cody

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/25/AR2009112503892.html

Notre Dame de la Garde, an elegant Roman Catholic basilica, has stood for 150 years on a promontory just south of Marseille's Old Port, looking down protectively as fishermen push out to the sea and symbolizing the irrepressible spirit of this fabled Mediterranean city.

But a...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Courier

http://www.leamingtoncourier.co.uk/news/Guests-share-the-secret-of.5861724.jp

Scores of guests were welcomed to Leamington and Warwick's Sikh temple for a civic reception on Tuesday. The High Sheriff of Warwickshire, the Lord Mayor of Coventry and mayors from around the county were joined by town, district and county council officials, Warwickshire's chief fire officer and...

Author: Christie Storm

Source: NWA Online

http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2009/nov/26/hindu-temple-be-dedicated-20091126/

When Murthy Kolluru, a native of India, moved to Northwest Arkansas 13 years ago, people could tell he wasn’t from around here.

“[When] I went to a Wal-Mart people would talk to me in Spanish,” Kolluru said.

Since that time, the Indian and Hindu communities have grown...

Author: Leslie Miller

Source: USA TODAY

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2009/11/no-god-no-problem-say-humanist-groups-new-holiday-ads/1

This just in: the American Humanist Association is launching a new "national" ad campaign similar to its controversial ads in Washington, D.C., last year, where the group is based. The ads will appear in transit...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Derby Telegraph

http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/news/Visitors-taken-journey-history-faiths/article-1534648-detail/article.html

A parade of glow-sticks lit a trail around a Derby park in a celebration of the city’s different faiths.

As visitors walked around the path at the Arboretum, in Normanton, on Saturday evening, [N]ov 21 they found...

Author: Anju Kaur

Source: SikhNN

http://www.sikhnn.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=693&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Bullying. Sikh parents worry about this every school year. Many try to talk to their children’s teachers and peers about their heritage and identity in hopes of raising tolerance and acceptance. But it is not an easy task. 

Ravinder Kaur...

Author: Laurie Goodstein

Source: The New York Times

Author: Jake Lowary

Source: The Leaf-Chronicle

http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20091122/NEWS01/911220334

The pastor at Grace Church of the Nazarene says he and his congregation will present their "Christmas on the Cumberland" Nativity scene despite objections from the American Civil Liberties Union.

Steve Estep, the church's pastor, said Saturday the church went through all the proper channels to present the display,...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Voxy

http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/christians-jews-and-muslims-back-charter-compassion-auckland-rasheed-memorial-tr/5/30826

A group of about 40 people gathered at the Ponsonby Mosque to celebrate the launch of the Charter for Compassion on 15 November. The meeting was organised by Aarif Rasheed representing the Rasheed Memorial Trust and Dave Moskovitz...