Civic

Op-Ed Articles Respond to Bush's Faith-Based Initiative

January 30, 2001

Source: The Wall Street Journal

http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=85000511

On January 30, 2001, The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed piece by Stephen Goldsmith, a special advisor to the president for faith-based and not-for-profit initiatives, in which he outlines the principles that he thinks Bush is following in his faith-based initiative. These are the principles: the faith-based programs will serve as an addition to, not a replacement for, government action...

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Mixed Reactions to Funding of Faith-Based Organizations

January 30, 2001

Source: The Washington Post

On January 30, 2001, The Washington Post reported that "President Bush, giving teeth to his father's decade-old "Thousand Points of Light" initiative, launched a broad governmental effort yesterday to invigorate religious charities and other nonprofit organizations in the battle against the nation's social problems. In the first step of what could be an unprecedented collaboration between the government and nonprofits, the president created offices in five Cabinet agencies and the White House with a charge to ease regulations...

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U.S. Responds to Earthquake in India

January 29, 2001

Source: The New York Times

On January 29, 2001, The New York Times reported that "the diaspora kicked into high gear over the weekend, as Indian-Americans, reeling from the shock of calamity back home, scrambled to deliver relief to the earthquake-ravaged western Indian state of Gujarat." All over the U.S., Gujaratis took collections to send home as soon as possible, as they waited anxiously for news of relatives and friends. "Worshipers at temples of the Swami Narayan, a predominantly Gujarati Hindu sect, contacted their sister temples in Gujarat to send...

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Mixed Reactions to Funding of Faith-Based Organizations

January 29, 2001

Source: Anti-Defamation League

http://www.adl.org/PresRele/Rel_ChStSep_90/3748_90_bush_letter.html

On January 29, 2001, the Anti-Defamation League wrote a letter to President Bush applauding his faith-based initiative, and asking him to "maintain essential constitutional safeguards for protecting both religious organizations and beneficiaries." The safeguards should protect beneficiaries from unwanted proselytizing, protect against government funding of...

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Use of Jesus' Name in Bush's Inauguration Discussed

January 29, 2001

Source: Star Tribune

On January 29, 2001, the Minneapolis Star Tribune published a commentary by Alan Dershowitz on Franklin Graham's dedication of Bush's inauguration to Jesus Christ. Graham's "particularistic and parochial language," claimed Dershowitz, "excluded tens of millions of American Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Shintoists, Unitarians, agnostics and atheists from his blessing...The plain message conveyed by the new administration is that Bush's America is a Christian nation, and that non-Christians are welcome into the tent so long as they agree to...

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CAIR Supports Bush's Faith-based Initiative

January 29, 2001

Source: Council on American-Islamic Relations

On January 29, 2001, the Council on American-Islamic Relations expressed its support for President Bush's faith-based initiative program. CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said that "Muslim individuals and groups in cities around America work daily to provide free medical care, housing for the homeless and the abused, rehabilitation for prison inmates, as well as social services and relief for victims of natural disasters. In this vital work, the government should act as a supporter, not as an obstacle to overcome....

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U.S. Responds to Earthquake in India

January 28, 2001

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On January 28, 2001, The Columbus Dispatch reported that "hundreds of central Ohioans this weekend are organizing prayers and fund-raisers to benefit victims of the Indian earthquake while they await news of family members living near the epicenter." 30 to 40 percent of Bharatiya Hindu Temple's 2,000 members have relatives in Gujarat state, the area hardest-hit by the earthquake. The 800 members of the Gujarat Mandal Association of Central Ohio spent the weekend calling India to learn what happened to their relatives. Special...

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Some Preachers in Georgia Support Idea of a New State Flag

January 28, 2001

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On January 28, 2001, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that "the Rev. Larry Summerour knows that most people in [Chickamauga], where the South claimed its last important victory in the Civil War, want to stick with the current Georgia flag. They consider the plan for a new flag a slap in the face. 'But I feel the need to say it,' said the 56-year-old pastor of Elizabeth Lee United Methodist Church. 'It is a flag of divisiveness.'" Most preachers in the area have avoided talking about the flag debate...

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U.S. Responds to Earthquake in India

January 28, 2001

Source: The Oregonian

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/news_week.ssf?/news/oregonian/01/01/lc_12quake28.frame

On January 28, 2001, The Oregonian reported on Indian families in the Northwest who are trying to learn what happened to their relatives in the recent 7.9-magnitude earthquake in India, and who feel helpless to relieve the suffering. "Oregon and Southwest Washington are home to thousands of people from India,...

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Use of Jesus' Name in Bush's Inauguration Discussed

January 27, 2001

Source: The Boston Globe

On January 27, 2001, The Boston Globe reported that "Jesus was a popular figure at President Bush's inauguration." The invocation by the Rev. Franklin Graham was closed with a prayer "'in the name of the father, and of the son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit.'" The benediction by the Rev. Kirbyjon H. Caldwell ended with the words, "'We respectfully submit this humble prayer in the name that's above all other names, Jesus the Christ.' Newspapers around the country have been publishing letters from readers offended...

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Debate About Role of Religion in Public Square

January 27, 2001

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On January 27, 2001, The Houston Chronicle reported that "U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman's bid for the Democratic vice presidency generated a flurry of discussion during the presidential campaign about the role of religion in public life. Lieberman, the first Jew nominated for the vice presidency by a major party, never shied away from speaking publicly about his faith." Melissa Rogers, executive director of the newly launched Pew Forum on Religion...

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Use of Jesus' Name in Bush's Inauguration Discussed

January 24, 2001

Source: USA TODAY

On January 24, 2001, USA Today reported that "when President George W. Bush called out to churches, synagogues and mosques in his inaugural address on Saturday, his speech came sandwiched between two prayers invoking Jesus by name, rather than the usual blessing for the new administration with overarching references to God. While many thrilled to hear clergy make the nation's greatest podium a pulpit for Jesus, others complained that such prayers leave out many Americans." Martin Marty, a leading scholar of American religious history,...

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Muslims and Others Challenge a Ban of Masks

January 24, 2001

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

On January 24, 2001, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Muslims and others "filed a federal lawsuit, seeking class action status," against a Chicago ordinance that bans people from wearing masks in public. The plaintiffs complained that the 1922 ordinance "violates their freedom of speech and religion...Officials speculated the ordinance may have been aimed at keeping the Ku Klux Klan out of the city during the group's heyday...But activists who regularly attend protests wearing bandanas, Palestinians wearing the kaffiyah, a type...

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