Author: Keegan Calligan

Source: Newsday

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/nassau/ny-liswas0412942018jul03,0,5655713.story

Rabbi Anchelle Perl wasn't at Congregation Beth Shalom Chabad in Mineola on Friday morning as he usually is, as the temple was closed for the Fourth of July weekend.

Instead, he got a call unlike any he's ever received: Someone had sprayed two large, bright orange swastikas on the synagogue'...

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: Staff Writer

Source: NJ.com

http://www.nj.com/hobokennow/index.ssf/2009/07/photos_from_hobokens_interfait.html

Here are some photos from today's Interfaith Service to commemorate the inuguration of new Hoboken mayor Peter Cammarano (the youngest Hoboken mayor to ever take office!). The service also marks the taking of office of the three new Council people, Ravi Bhalla, Dave Mello and Carol Marsh.

The...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: NJ.com

http://www.nj.com/hobokennow/index.ssf/2009/07/first_sikh_in_new_jersey_publi.html

New Hoboken Councilman-at-large Ravi Bhalla is the first Sikh to be elected to office in the entire state of New Jersey.

And when he was sworn in today, Bhalla gave a moving speech about his heritage and the American dream.

"My father arrived in America in the 1960s. He came to Penn...

Author: Andrea Fuller

Source: The New York Times

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/a-thank-you-and-a-koran-for-obama/

President Obama will soon receive a thank-you gift for his speech to the Muslim world in Cairo. Inspired by the address, in which Mr. Obama quoted the Koran, the Council on American-Islamic Relations plans to distribute 100,000 copies of the Koran to national, state and local leaders.
...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: WNYC News

http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/135575

Some civic and community groups say the city's regulation to stop harassment in public schools, isn't working. A report released today by the Sikh Coalition and other groups says most students see no decrease in discrimination and bullying since Mayor Bloomberg signed the measure last year. The coalition's Sonny Singh says the city has yet to live up to its promises.

Author: Kirk Semple

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/01/nyregion/01muslim.html?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y

Spurred by a broad coalition of religious, labor and immigrant groups, the City Council overwhelmingly passed a resolution on Tuesday to add two of the most important Muslim holy days to the public schools’ holiday calendar.

But the vote, which was nonbinding, put the Council in conflict...

Author: Alix Rijckaert

Source: Yahoo News

Wire Service: AP

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090630/lf_afp/netherlandsimmigrationgay

A harassed gay minority in a conservative suburb in otherwise tolerant Amsterdam has found a guardian angel in the local Muslim mayor.

Ahmed Marcouch, 41, is on a self-appointed mission to end homophobia in Slotervaart, just a stones' throw from the capital but...

Author: Michael Paulson

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/06/28/at_mosque_opening_tensions_permeate_interfaith_gathering/

The controversy over the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury Crossing has posed one of the biggest challenges to interfaith relations in Boston in years, and the tension was readily on...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Newsday.com

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--atheistads0627jun27,0,1951416.story

An atheist group is running ads on two dozen New York City buses to raise "atheist pride" among nonbelievers.

The 12-foot-long ads have a blue background and three-foot-high white letters that proclaim "You don't have to believe in god to be a moral or ethical person...

Author: Michael Paulson

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/06/27/relief_protest_greet_opening_of_mosque_in_roxbury_crossing/

With the cutting of a taut green ribbon and the haunting chant of a call to prayer, a crowd of hundreds of local Muslims inaugurated a large new mosque yesterday in Roxbury Crossing.

The...

Author: Michael Paulson

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/06/26/muslim_community_to_celebrate_mosque8217s_ceremonial_opening/

&amAt midday today, a local Muslim will clamber 185 feet up a ladder inside the narrow minaret atop the domed brick mosque and recite Islam’s haunting call to prayer, starting with the...

Author: William Wan

Source: The Washington Post

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/godingovernment/2009/06/free_quran_given_by_muslim_civil_liberties_group.html

On the premise that nothing makes a better gift than a good book, a Muslim civil liberties group is launching a campaign to hand out 100,000 free copies of an expensive Arabic-English copy of the Qur'an to elected...

Author: Trina Hoaks

Source: Examiner.com

http://www.examiner.com/x-2044-Atheism-Examiner~y2009m6d25-Atheist-Imagine-no-Religion-billboard-goes-up-in-Alabama

A 14x48-foot billboard emblazoned with the John Lennonesque message, "Imagine No Religion," and a stained-glass window backdrop, went up this week for one month on I-20, near the Riverside exit en route to Talladega.

...

Author: Alex Bridges

Source: The Northern Virginia Daily

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/2009/06/winchester-frederick-habitat-build-draws.html

Sometimes it takes faith to build a home.

A new house project for Winchester-Frederick County Habitat for Humanity draws together representatives of numerous faiths in the area.

Organizers of Habitat for Humanity's first-ever Interfaith Build in Frederick County...