Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

On April 5, 2001, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported on a hearing in Pasadena before a federal appeals court. It was "the latest legal skirmish in a nearly 12-year-old controversy over the" Mount Soledad cross. Atheist Philip Paulson claimed San Diego City "violated constitutional law when it sold the land to the Mount Soledad Memorial Association, a nonprofit veterans group that built the cross and maintained it for nearly 50 years." Before the veterans group bought the land, it was public property and the presence of...

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

On April 3, 2001, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that "controversy over the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's impending visit to Milwaukee has caused the event to be moved from a north side church to the Hilton Milwaukee City Center...The change was announced at a news conference where several pastors of black churches and a local spokesman for the Nation of Islam stood solidly behind stated efforts by the Korean-born Moon -- founder of the Unification Church -- to rebuild families, restore communities and renew the country...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On April 1, 2001, Los Angeles Times reported on a shelter for battered women in Garden Grove that is "one of the few in Southern California that serves Muslims who, for complex religious and cultural reasons, think they cannot go anywhere else." The creator of the shelter said "it would be extreme humiliation" to a Muslim woman to go to any other shelter.

Source: Los Angeles Times

On April 1, 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported that "reaching across religious and cultural lines, a Greek Orthodox archbishop, a Roman Catholic cardinal and Protestant and Jewish leaders...celebrated a revitalized neighborhood near downtown Los Angeles as a showcase of civic cooperation in the midst of diversity." The interfaith cooperation has "led to a kind of urban resurrection" in an area that "has been dubbed the 'Byzantine-Latino Quarter.'"

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On April 1, 2001, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that "a federal judge refused to jail officials of three Kentucky counties for posting the Ten Commandments in public buildings. She ordered both sides to try to settle the dispute."

Source: The Denver Post

On April 1, 2001, The Denver Post reported that Bush's faith-based initiative "has unleashed intense argument and soul-searching among those who were presumed to be its prime supporters and beneficiaries - Christian activists and active Christians." In addition, "the Bush initiative has forced us to confront how little most of us, religious or not, actually do to help the poor. That debate may accomplish more in the long run than any of the programs Bush gets enacted."

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On March 31, 2001, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that "one of the largest philanthropy organizations in the nation said this week it will devote $100 million to faith-based volunteer groups that serve the elderly, disabled and chronically ill people." The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will only disburse funds to "volunteer groups composed of people from a variety of faiths."

Source: New York Daily News

On March 30, 2001, the New York Daily News reported on the "winners in an essay contest promoting unity and peace sponsored by Community School Board 20." The winners were 30 youngsters from schools in southern Brooklyn who came from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Source: Los Angeles Times

On March 30, 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported that "Buddhists reacted with restraint" to the Taliban's destruction of two historic stone statues of the Buddha. "American Buddhists and scholars of Buddhism are still piecing together the meaning of" the destruction of the statues.

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On March 27, 2001, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that in Lilburn, Georgia, "followers of the Hindu faith are planning to build an ornate worship center that would be the largest of its kind in the Southeast and one of the largest outside India." The center will "include a community center, a clinic, youth education center and a prayer building." The temple that is rebuilding in Lilburn "has about 900 members but attracts as many as 5,000 to 6,000 worshippers on special holidays...About 50,000...

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/03/25/city/EVANG25.htm

On March 25, 2001, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that "responding to Muslims has become a keen concern for many Christians as they watch Islam's steady growth in size and respectability in this country. While Roman Catholic and most Mainline Protestant churches promote theological tolerance and dialogue," evangelical leaders have rallied "their troops...

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On March 25, 2001, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that "a survey conducted last year found that 92 percent of black churches offer youth programs and 86 percent provide cash assistance to needy people...The survey was part of the larger 'Faith Communities Today' study...76 percent of black congregations were involved in voter registration or voter education efforts. A total of 75 percent of the black churches had a food pantry or soup kitchen."

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On March 22, 2001, The Houston Chronicle reported that "legislation was announced Wednesday advancing President Bush's faith-based agenda, with proposals for tax incentives and government funding for religious groups...The House version would allow religious organizations to compete with secular groups for federal grants to address social concerns."

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On March 21, 2001, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Americans United for Separation of Church and State "filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court in Pittsburgh yesterday, trying to force the removal of a Ten Commandments display from the Allegheny County Courthouse...The lawsuit...asserts that the plaque violates the First Amendment's establishment clause, the basis for the country's separation of church and state."

Source: The Boston Globe

On March 21, 2001, The Boston Globe published an op-ed article by Don Muhammad, a regional minister of the Nation of Islam, in which he criticized Bush's faith-based initiative. His principle criticism was of the exclusion of the Nation of Islam from the initiative.