Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On January 15, 2001, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that Americans United for the Separation of Church and State is demanding that a 50-by-80-inch bronze plaque inscribed with the Ten Commandments and a biblical passage be removed from the Allegheny County Courthouse wall. Representatives of the International Reform Bureau presented the plaque on April 8, 1918. The nonprofit organization says the plaque "violates the First Amendment's establishment clause -- 'Congress shall make no law...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On January 13, 2001, The Houston Chronicle reported that Church Women United, a church women's group committed to interdenominational harmony, fired half its staff--a total of seven employees--before Christmas. "Now at least two of its member organizations are considering withdrawing funds....Church Women United leaders say it includes 500,000 Protestant, Roman Catholic and Orthodox women. Ongoing programs include World Day of Prayer and an anti-violence campaign."

Source: The Kansas City Star

On January 13, 2001, The Kansas City Star reported on religious leaders' hopes and fears for the new century. One area of concern is the direction of the economy. With Bush's "proposal of tax cuts that will benefit the wealthy," said the Rev. Loy C. Drew of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Kansas City, the poor will be coming to faith-based organizations more often for help with food, shelter, and the payment of bills. Another area of concern are the problems in the Middle East. Ahmed El-Sherif, president of the...

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

On January 12, 2001, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that "The Dalai Lama, Tibet's charismatic spiritual and political leader, is reaching out to the world over the Internet from a remote site in the Indian Himalayas with help from a native Milwaukeean. The Dalai Lama's government-in-exile has launched an official Web site --www.tibet.net -- from Dharamsala, India, where he fled after a 1959 uprising against Chinese rule failed." Dan Haig, 37, is the webmaster for the project...

Source: New York Daily News

On January 11, 2001, the New York Daily News reported that "Sophia Vackimes, curator of the photography exhibit "Botanica! Lotions, Potions, Orishas and Saints," will give a talk and present a slide show Saturday highlighting the cultural and religious phenomenon of the neighborhood botanica at the Flushing Library Auditorium. A botanica is a small retail shop that supplies religious practitioners, artisans and others of different religious beliefs with ceremonial goods. There you may find jars filled with ritual objects,...

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

On January 10, 2001, The Christian Science Monitor reported that "according to an in-depth national report released today, a large US majority wants religion's influence on society to increase...Americans remain deeply concerned about a loss of moral moorings in the US, and they are looking to religion as the best means to right the ship." People are concerned about the rise of materialism, greed, and a general "loss of moral moorings in the US," and look to religion to help reestablish a moral framework....

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On January 10, 2001, The Columbus Dispatch reported that "Reform Jews nationwide are being urged to cut ties with the Boy Scouts because of the Scouts' refusal to admit homosexuals." A commission representing the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and the Central Conference of American Rabbis issued a memo calling for the withdrawl. But even if they agree that the Scouts' position is a problem, not all Reform Jews agree with the suggested course of action. Temple Israel, which does not sponsor a boy scout troop, will "...

Source: The New York Times

On January 10, 2001, The New York Times reported that "Reform Jewish leaders are recommending that parents withdraw their children from membership in the Boy Scouts of America and that synagogues end their sponsorship of Scout troops, the strongest reaction yet by a religious group to the Supreme Court decision allowing the Boy Scouts to exclude gay members...In a memorandum to congregations dated Jan. 5, the Joint Commission on Social Action of the Reform movement asked congregations to sever ties to the Boy Scouts, or at least...

Source: The Boston Globe

On January 8, 2001, The Boston Globe reported that "Catholics, Protestants, and Jews yesterday welcomed a Supreme Court decision upholding the right of Mormons to build a giant temple in Belmont, saying the decision guarantees continued freedom for religious groups in Massachusetts." Many religious groups were watching the case, in which neighbors asked to have the temple bulldozed, arguing that allowing the temple "violated a constitutional prohibition against the government establishment of religion."

"At stake in the...

Source: The Kansas City Star

On January 8, 2001, The Kansas City Star reported that "continuing social and political reform remains necessary if America's most disadvantaged residents are to gain the equality for which civil rights pioneers fought, a national civil rights scholar and activist said Sunday evening in Kansas City." Lawrence Rubin, recent executive chairman of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, spoke at an interfaith community worship service, part of the 2001 Greater Kansas City Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration. Rubin stated that...

Source: Jet

On January 8, 2001, Jet magazine reported that "a broad coalition of U.S. religious leaders has issued a statement calling" for the eradication of racism from our institutions. "The endorsers represented, among others, the National Congress of Black Churches, the Southern Baptist Convention, Roman Catholic bishops, the National Council of Churches, the Greek Orthodox archdiocese, Judaism's three major branches, national Muslim organizations and Native American religions...The interfaith National Conference for Community and Justice, which...

Source: The Tampa Tribune

On January 6, 2001, The Tampa Tribune reported that Hillsborough County's proposed 2001-2002 school calendar "includes a day off in September coinciding with the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. The calendar also shows a spring break from March 25 to April 1, 2002, which would span both Easter and Passover." Jewish parents call the proposed changes to the calendar "a step in the right direction." Phyllis Rogoff, a Jewish parent who served on the district's calendar committee, said the changes...

Source: No source given.

On January 5, 2001, Starhawk responded to Charlotte Allen's "The Scholar and the Goddess." In her letter to the editor, Starhawk critiques Allen's understanding of Wicca as relying on historical origins for its credibility, stating that "Goddess religion is not based on belief, in history, in archaeology, in any Great Goddess past or present. Our spirituality is based on experience, on a direct relationship with the cycles of birth, growth, death and regeneration in nature and in human lives." Starhawk also notes that Allen "misses the...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On January 3, 2001, The Houston Chronicle reported that "this holiday season, the staff and volunteers at Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston, located in the Montrose area, did its part to ease [the] burden of loneliness and need through various holiday programs and activities." The organization "exists to build collaborations among Houston's faith communities and business, civic and philanthropic organizations to address critical human and community needs." The organization's programs include Meals on Wheels, which...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On January 1, 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported that a unity agreement between the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America will be formally signed on Saturday at the Washington National Cathedral. The Called to Common Mission pact "allows members of the two denominations to receive communion in each other's churches and call either an Episcopal priest or a Lutheran minister their pastor." The agreement stems from the recognition that "both denominations have more in common than not....