Civic

DiIulio's Departure Bodes Ill for Faith-Based Initiative

August 21, 2001

Source: The Boston Globe

On August 21, 2001, The Boston Globe reported that "the departure of John DiIulio [from the White House]...puts prospects for passage of President Bush's faith-based initiative in new peril...DiIulio, a Democrat, an academic, a onetime adviser to Al Gore, and director of Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, had been expected to broker a bill with his friend, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman...that could garner enough Democratic support to pass the Senate. But the larger issue...may be whether religious...

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Westerm Tibetologist Amasses Huge Collection of Tibetan Buddhist Writings

August 20, 2001

Source: The Boston Globe

On August 20, 2001, The Boston Globe reported that "over four decades as an itinerant archivist with a passion for preservation, a Mormon convert to Buddhism named E. Gene Smith has amassed a rare collection of the endangered Tibetan Buddhist canon: some original writings of Buddha, early commentaries by Indian Buddhists, and the writings of Tibetan Buddhist sages over the last 12 centuries. 'This is the best library of Tibetan works in the country,'" according to the soon-to-be chair of Buddhist studies at Harvard University,...

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Hindu Group Tries to Build Ties with Native Americans

August 20, 2001

Source: The Newspaper Today

http://www.thenewspapertoday.com/india/inside.phtml?NEWS_ID=24926

On August 20, 2001, The Newspaper Today reported that "the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is making serious efforts to forge close links with native American Indian groups, saying the two have 'many things in common,'" Sangh spokesman M.G. Vaidya said. "Both inherit the glory and wisdom of ancient traditions and respect mother earth and we all should work together to...

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Hindu Group Plans Pilgrimage to Raise Awareness of its Faith

August 18, 2001

Source: The New York Times

On August 18, 2001, The New York Times reported that "an organization called the Hindu Leaders Forum announced that a pilgrimage...will visit five American cities..., holding events in Hindu communities in Miami, Atlanta, Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles to raise public awareness of the faith's presence in the United States. Common estimates are that there may be as many as one million Hindus in the nation."

White House Report Finds Antireligious Bias in Federal Bureaucracy

August 17, 2001

Source: The Boston Globe

On August 17, 2001, The Boston Globe reported that "despite attempts by Congress to encourage their participation, faith-based social service groups that seek federal funding are dissuaded by the 'antireligious bias' of too many government officials, a White House report asserted yesterday...The White House report...catalogued the steps that religious organizations have been forced to take in order to qualify for federal funds...Changing the antireligious culture of the federal bureaucracy will be a formidable task, [John]...

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New Cathedral in Los Angeles Creates Controversy

August 16, 2001

Source: The Boston Globe

On August 16, 2001, The Boston Globe reported on the nation's largest Roman Catholic cathedral, which is about to be completed in Los Angeles. "Because of its grandeur and ambitions, the cathedral...has become a growing symbol of pride and disdain." The cathedral is meant for the "nation's largest archdiocese, with about 5 million Catholics of many backgrounds, with Mass celebrated in 38 languages on any Sunday." Cardinal Roger M. Mahony addressed those who criticized him for spending so much money on the building in an...

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Documentary Traces Conflicts Over Sacred Land and Business

August 14, 2001

Source: The New York Times

http://www.pbs.org/pov/inthelightofreverence/thefilm.html

On August 14, 2001, The New York Times featured an article on "In the Light of Reverence," a documentary on PBS that reports on conflicts between American Indian tribes and companies "with mining and recreational interests over numerous sites in the West that the tribes say are sacred to them... The film focuses on three sites, Devils Tower in Wyoming (claimed as sacred by the...

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Activists Use Taxi Ads to Push for Ordination of Women

August 14, 2001

Source: The Boston Globe

On August 14, 2001, The Boston Globe reported that "a local organization of Catholic women [Massachusetts Women-Church] has rented signs atop 20 Boston taxicabs demanding that the Vatican allow women to be ordained as priests...In other cities, activists have rented billboards, and one woman disrupted a bishops' meeting in Washington...The church has cited the fact that Jesus did not have female apostles as a justification [for not ordaining women], and Pope John Paul II has said the matter is not open for debate."

Lutheran Church Upholds Ban on Gay Clergy Members

August 14, 2001

Source: The Boston Globe

On August 14, 2001, The Boston Globe reported that "the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America opted... not to overturn a ban on homosexual clergy members, deciding instead to undertake its first major study on whether to endorse the morality of homosexual relationships... A coalition of five pro-gay Lutheran caucuses and the activist group Soulforce of Laguna Beach, Calif., held a... rally...to protest what they saw as Lutheran inaction. Protesters...kneeled to pray and sing across the street from the meeting all and 48 were...

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Inter-Religious Panel at Harvard Explores Conversion

August 14, 2001

Source: International Society for Krishna Consciousness

http://www.iskcon.net/boston

On August 14, 2001, The International Society for Krishna Consciousness reported that "the Boston Theological Institute's Dialog Program convened a panel on religious conversion at the Harvard Divinity School. Christopher Queen...of the Harvard Extension School...discussed his journey from Methodism to Buddhism...Premananda dasa spoke of his journey from Christianity to atheism to Vaishnavism......

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Candidate for New Jersey Governor Prevails Despite Islamophobia

August 13, 2001

Source: American Muslim Council

On August 13, 2001, the American Muslim Council reported that its New Jersey Chapter "joined other Muslim organizations to meet with Mayor Jim McGreevey...to clear up misunderstandings. At the meeting McGreevey apologized for his previous stereotypes regarding Muslims organizations and issued an apology concerning his remarks...McGreevey [had] labeled the [American Muslim Association] 'extreme' and claimed its members support 'inappropriate violence.'...'The goal was to clear the slate, to have a frank, straightforward conversation...

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Taliban Imprisons Relatives of Children for Teaching Christianity

August 12, 2001

Source: Los Angeles Times

On August 12, 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported that "the ruling Taliban movement...freed dozens of children it had accused of receiving Christian teaching and imprisoned their fathers instead, the official media [in Afghanistan] reported. Meanwhile, a special U.N. envoy began a mission here aimed at pressing the Taliban to release eight foreigners, including two Americans, arrested on charges of propagating Christianity in this devout Muslim nation." The foreigners worked at Shelter Now International, where the youngsters who...

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Hog Farming Source of Rift Between Mennonites and their Neighbors

August 12, 2001

Source: The New York Times

On August 12, 2001, The New York Times reported on the on Finger Lakes region of New York. "Best known for its...bucolic beauty, [it] has become the hog farming capital of New York. But with that distinction has come controversy...casting an awkward spotlight on the people most associated with the animals, Mennonite farmers." Many of their neighbors are complaining that the stench produced by the pigs "has adversely affected the quality of life, the environment, the wine business and the tourism industry...Like their...

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New York Court Issues Restraining Order on Hindu Temple

August 10, 2001

Source: Newsday

On August 10, 2001, Newsday reported that "a State Supreme Court judge has issued a restraining order against a popular Hindu temple in Flushing, preventing it from spending temple funds, after six members accused its board of concealing financial records. The Hindu Temple Society of North America, which governs the Ganesha Temple..., has been ordered not to use any assets, sign any contracts or conduct any major expenditures unless authorized by temple membership." The president of the Hindu Temple Society denied all allegations. "Those...

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Bush's Piety Excludes Agnostics

August 9, 2001

Source: The Washington Post

On August 9, 2001, The Washington Post published an editorial about Bush leading his cabinet in prayer before a meeting. "Bush is different only in degree, not in kind" in terms of presidential piety. "It makes me scratch my head whenever anyone mentions how religion has been banished from American life. This lament, so intrinsic if not essential to the conservative moment,...has attained the status of a Big Lie -- an untruth repeated so often that it goes unchallenged...America -- alone among the major Western democracies --...

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