Source: Scoop Independent News

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0708/S00167.htm

The first Hindu prayer in the United States (US) Senate by chaplain Rajan Zed on July 12, which was protested from the gallery, is receiving overwhelming support from religious, political, and scholarly quarters.

Senator Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey, in a release, said, "The Hindu prayer opening the Senate this month was a historic milestone for religious tolerance and diversity in...

Source: The Buddhist Channel

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=65,4611,0,0,1,0

Oakland, CA (USA) -- At Oakland’s Emerson Elementary School, students may not be able to say a public “Our Father,” but they can publicly practice “mindfulness” techniques, adapted from Buddhism, in which “the children learn to follow their breath, watch their thoughts and focus their attention by listening to the tone of a Tibetan singing bowl...

Source: India eNews

http://www.indiaenews.com/america/20070806/64166.htm

Hundreds of Indian Americans came together in New Jersey to celebrate the centennial anniversary of Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a Hindu spiritual organisation and connect with their cultural traditions.

Many Indian Americans were seen performing traditional Indian folk dances Saturday in Edison, wearing colourful Indian costumes. The cultural performances...

Author: Mohammed Aminu

Source: allAfrica.com/ This Day

http://allafrica.com/stories/200708060756.html

Son of late Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muham-madu Maccido and Senator representing Sokoto Central Senatorial District , Alhaji Ahmed Muhammadu Maccido, has called on religious clerics in the state to shun unguarded statements capable of inciting violence and threatening the peaceful co-existence among members of various sects in the state.

Maccido...

Author: Charles C. Haynes

Source: First Amendment Center

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/analysis.aspx?id=18876

Iraq, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Palestine. In a world torn by sectarian violence, religion is often seen as the problem, not the solution.

But an international coalition called Religions for Peace is working hard to change that perception by mobilizing religious leaders to fight back against those who use religion to promote...

Author: Tom Heneghan

Source: Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL3145702520070806?pageNumber=1

Petitions in London, protests in Cologne, a court case in Marseille and a violent clash in Berlin -- Muslims in Europe are meeting resistance to plans for mosques that befit Islam's status as the continent's second religion.

Across Europe, Muslims who have long prayed in garages and old factories now face...

Author: Josh White

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/03/AR2007080301907.html

The Defense Department's inspector general has found that four generals and three other military officers improperly participated in a fundraising video for an evangelical Christian group, inappropriately offering support for the religious organization while appearing to operate within the...

Author: Gregg Krupa

Source: The Detroit News

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070804/POLITICS01/708040373/1041/LIFESTYLE04

HAMTRAMCK -- This small city of immigrants is quickly regaining its reputation.

Once a refuge for Catholic immigrants mostly from Poland and Ukraine, who staked their claim to the American dream in this 2.2-square-mile municipality, Hamtramck is now...

Author: DAVID KOENIG

Source: Washington Post

Wire Service: AP

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/04/AR2007080400828.html?nav=rss_religion/wires

DALLAS -- More than a decade of bank records, phone calls and videos collected by the FBI are helping federal prosecutors build their case against a group that was once the nation's largest Muslim...

Author: DAVID CRUMM

Source: Detroit Free Press

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070804/COL15/708040317/1081

Often, the best way to learn about the mystery of faith is to hit the road and go see for yourself. That's a timeless spiritual truth and it's precisely what nine young Midwestern journalists, ages 12 to 18, did last week in their quest to explore Islam in the United States.

Five were from...

Author: M.E. Sprengelmeyer

Source: Rocky Mountain News

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5656860,00.html

URBANDALE, Iowa - Everywhere he goes, people keep asking former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney about his Mormon faith.

But applying religious tests to the presidential race would be like "what you see in countries in the Middle East," and shouldn't be a factor in 2008,...

Author: Lornet Turnbull and Janet I. Tu

Source: The Seattle Times

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003819538_muslimconvert03m.html

Led by a California pastor, a group of Christians will gather outside some Seattle-area mosques today in hopes of winning converts among Muslim worshippers coming to midday prayer.

They will also take their message of salvation to those attending this weekend's Arab...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6929462.stm

A group of Tibetans were arrested in western China after public calls for the return of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, reports say.

The incident took place on 1 August at a festival in Litang town in western Sichuan, Radio Free Asia and the International Campaign for Tibet said.

Local resident Runggye Adak was...

Author: MICHAEL JANAIRO

Source: Times Union

Author: Jonathan Abrams

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-tribefires2aug02,1,2564373.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california

They were bleary-eyed from lack of sleep as they converged high in the San Bernardino Mountains at twilight.

While two lightning-ignited fires barreled toward Big Bear Lake last summer, the fire...