Civic

Secret Evidence and Extended Detentions

April 6, 2003

Source: CBS News

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/04/06/60minutes/main548023.shtml

On April 6, 2003 CBS News reported that "Hady Omar came to the United States from Egypt three and a half years ago. He lives in Arkansas with his wife Candy, an Arkansas native, and their daughter Jasmine... He’s never been charged with any criminal offense, but he says he was held in custody in a maximum-security prison for 73 days because he is a Muslim... The...

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Multifaith Group Films Commercial to Prevent Hate Crimes

April 5, 2003

Source: The Associated Press

On April 5, 2003 The Associated Press reported that "twenty-nine-year-old Anjum A. Ali has two very distinctive looks - that of an American patriot and that of a Muslim... Dressed in her traditional head garb, the American-born Muslim has struggled to make more traditional citizens understand that she, too, is a patriot... With the help of her friend Neil Kuchinsky, a well-known Jewish lawyer who often serves as an advocate for people of the Jewish religion, and local real estate investor Vince Ferranti, a Christian Italian-...

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Update: Good News Rescue Mission Welcomes Sikhs

April 5, 2003

Source: Record Searchlight

http://www.redding.com/top_stories/local/20030405toplo067.shtml

On April 5, 2003 the Record Searchlight reported that "Sikhs are welcome to cook and serve food at the Good News Rescue Mission and the media can cover it. The Rev. Jim Dahl, the mission director, said that was the essence of a Friday afternoon telephone conversation between him and Kawaljit Singh... 'I let him know the door is wide open for them to serve and that any...

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New Jersey Wiccan Festival Involved in Zoning Dispute

April 5, 2003

Source: The Record

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2MzYyNzY3

On April 5, 2003 The Record reported that a "controversy that brewed after a shopkeeper attempted to stage a Wiccan festival in borough parks provided some of the impetus behind portions of a new ordinance, Borough Attorney Anne Marie Rizzuto said. Disputes that arose from soccer groups jockeying to...

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Muslim American Society Discuss with Fleet over Closing of Accounts

April 4, 2003

Source: The Boston Globe

On April 4, 2003 The Boston Globe reported that "officials from the Muslim American Society are in discussions with FleetBoston Financial Corp., asking the bank to re-examine its recent decisions to close at least 15 accounts of individuals or institutions with Arabic names... Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, said Fleet 'is a test case' and the effort might spread to other large national banks that he said might be engaging in discriminatory practices... Fleet spokesman James E....

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Evangelical Christians On the Front Lines

April 4, 2003

Source: The Guardian

On April 4, 2003 The Guardian reported that "poised behind the troops, waiting for a signal that Iraq is safe enough for them to operate in, are the evangelical Christians - carrying food in one hand and the Bible in the other... All the groups, generously funded by American churchgoers, are likely to do a magnificent job in offering water, food, medical help and comfort to a traumatised population. But they are causing alarm among Muslims, who fear vulnerable Iraqis will be cajoled into conversion, and Christians, some of whom...

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Tempe Officials Declare City Buildings Haven from Hate

April 4, 2003

Source: The Associated Press

On April 4, 2003 The Associated Press reported that "Tempe [AZ] has declared its city buildings a haven for local Muslims who may face war-related harassment or threats, making it the first Phoenix-area community to officially do so... 'City buildings have always been safe havens,' Tempe's diversity coordinator, Rosa Inchausti, said in a note to department heads last week. 'People need to know that anyone can go into any city building if they are feeling harassed or threatened.'"

Minister Barred from Giving Prayer in Maryland Senate

April 3, 2003

Source: The Baltimore Sun

On April 3, 2003 The Baltimore Sun reported that "a Frederick County minister was barred from giving the opening prayer in the Maryland Senate yesterday after he refused to do so without invoking the name of Jesus - and violating the body's guidelines for public prayer... The move revived a debate over the invocations that begin each legislative day and whether the prayers should include references to Christianity or other specific religious deities... After several prayers early in the session included Jesus Christ, Senate...

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Update: Ventura, CA Landmark Cross Up for Debate

April 3, 2003

Source: Los Angeles Times

On April 3, 2003 the Los Angeles Times reported that "the 91-year-old cross overlooking Ventura is being targeted by a group that contends the city has run afoul of 1st Amendment guarantees against establishment of a state religion... The cross is on public land in Grant Park, a rambling, sage-studded expanse atop 800-foot-high Mission Hill. The cross will be at the heart of a meeting next week between city officials and an attorney for three Ventura County residents upset by its religious symbolism... A member of Americans United...

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Update: Good News Rescue Mission Welcomes Sikhs

April 3, 2003

Source: Record Searchlight

http://www.redding.com/top_stories/local/20030403toplo035.shtml

On April 3, 2003 the Record Searchlight reported that the "Good News Rescue Mission has notified local Sikhs that their services are no longer welcome... A March 27 letter from mission director the Rev. Jim Dahl to Kawaljit Singh followed an earlier conversation between the men. Singh said Dahl's message was clear in the two-page...

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Nomination of Daniel Pipes Alarms Muslim Groups

April 3, 2003

Source: CAIR

On April 3, 2003 CAIR reported that "a national Islamic civil rights group today urged President Bush to rescind his nomination of an 'Islamophobe,' who claims 10 to 15 percent of Muslims are 'potential killers,' to the board of a government institution formed to promote the peaceful resolution of international conflicts... The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says President Bush yesterday nominated pro-Israel commentator Daniel Pipes...

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Editorial: the Kansha Consortium

April 3, 2003

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On April 3, 2003 The San Francisco Chronicle printed an editorial by Annie Nakao stating that "I attended an unusual awards ceremony in San Francisco last week, to honor some folks who did the right thing in another dark time not so long ago... They were quite a bunch: a beloved philanthropist, a Buddhist priest, a couple of newspaper publishers, two lawyers, the ACLU of Northern California and the American Friends Service Committee. Their deed? Aiding Japanese Americans in the days following Pearl Harbor, when this...

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Collection of Essays Document Jewish Tradition

March 31, 2003

Source: The Weekly Standard

On March 31, 2003 The Weekly Standard reported that "the Jewish people forever faces grave external threats and internal tensions, and temperature-taking would seem to be in order. Moreover, taking stock is a venerable tradition among Jews, inaugurated by God Himself when He described them as a 'stiff-necked people...' The tradition continues with two hefty collections of essays, Jewish Polity and American Civil Society and Jews and the American Public Square, both edited by Alan Mittleman, Jonathan D. Sarna, and...

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Sikhs Celebrate Hola Mahala

March 31, 2003

Source: The Modesto Bee

http://www.modbee.com/local/story/6475615p-7420243c.html

On March 31, 2003 The Modesto Bee reported that "this Sunday... 15-year-old Kristina Bassi of Livingston... dressed in a bright yellow Punjabi suit and attended services in Livingston. Kristina listened over loudspeakers outside a Sikh temple to people recite the holy book and sing hymnals while playing traditional music... She was among an estimated 2,500 at the fifth annual...

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