Source: The Courier-Journal

On October 13, 2000, The Courier-Journal (Louisville) reported that "the Utica Town Council is considering posting the Ten Commandments in the board's meeting room along with other historical documents. Town Council President Glenn Murphy Sr. said yesterday that the issue will be placed on the agenda for the Nov. 14 meeting. 'I would like to see it, personally,' he said, adding that it would emphasize right and wrong to those who see it. Similar postings in Indiana are being challenged by civil liberties attorneys, but Utica...

Source: The Baltimore Sun

On October 13, 2000, The Baltimore Sun reported that "Mark Hughes was a sixth-grade teacher at Lombard Middle School in 1995, watching the Million Man March on CNN with his pupils. Hughes resolved that if a similar event were to happen, he would be there in person...'I'm looking to be inspired to action,' said Hughes, 28, who now works for a Sandtown public health agency. Hughes and several other Baltimoreans have engaged in plenty of action on behalf of the Million Family March, with a local committee meeting every Tuesday since...

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On October 13, 2000, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that "A group of clergy from Missouri mailed 3,000 letters this week to pastors, rabbis, imams and other spiritual leaders across the state asking them not to distribute the voters guides from the Christian Coalition of America." The guides focus on the two major candidates for US President, Al Gore and George W. Bush. The Coalition is especially concerned with the "marriage tax penalty and other tax issues, abortion and school vouchers." Some are concerned that...

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On October 12, 2000, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that St. Louis area Jews and Muslims are responding to the crisis in the Middle East. The Jewish Federation of St. Louis Communities held a rally in support of "the people and government of Israel." Area Muslims are saying "special prayers of petition for peace and for the victims of the recent violence in Israel."

Source: Los Angeles Times

On October 10, 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported that "during Barbara Dreher's first year as province director of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, 27 elderly nuns died. More important, no young women enrolled to take their place. Those who remained were aging rapidly, and the order lacked the long-term resources to care for them. A mortality study showed that the 350-year-old order was destined to disappear one day without a trace. Dreher's leadership team took drastic action. They sold property and cut living...

Source: The Boston Globe

On October 10, 2000, The Boston Globe published an article entitled, "On Yom Kippur, A Local Vigil for Israelis; Jews in Cambridge Mourn for Victims, Make Plea for Peace." It reported that "More than 500 members of the Jewish communities of Harvard University and Cambridge shivered through an afternoon vigil in Harvard Yard. They read psalms and sang O'seh Shalom Bim'romav - 'Maker of Peace on High' - in a communal prayer for peace in the Middle East, just as war seemed about to ravage Israel and Palestine once again. The...

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On October 9, 2000, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the St. Charles County Social Justice Alliance, "an organization of faith-based and civic-minded residents working for equity regardless of race, gender, economic status, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity appearance or ability," held a Stop the Hate vigil and interfaith service on Thursday night. The community recognizes that it is probably entering a period of rapid growth which will likely increase its diversity. Some members of the alliance described the...

Source: Star Tribune

On October 7, 2000, the Star Tribune reported that "the sign has gotten bigger and the word 'God' has shrunk, but Shawnee County Treasurer Rita Cline still faces a lawsuit over a sign at her office proclaiming, 'In God We Trust.' The American Civil Liberties Union last month filed a petition in U.S. District Court in Topeka, asking the court to force Cline to take down the sign. The ACLU accused Cline of inappropriately using her office to push her religion. The ACLU had said the message went beyond the national motto because the...

Source: Star Tribune

On October 7, 2000, the Star Tribune reported that "Monte Plaisance filed a lawsuit, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, in U.S. District Court seeking to overturn a Terrebonne Parish ordinance that punishes fortune telling and palm reading with up to $500 in fines and one year in jail. Plaisance, a 28-year-old Wiccan minister who says he communicates with ancient Greek deities, let a detective investigating his witchcraft museum photograph Tarot cards, altar, crystal balls, trident wands and pentagrams. The museum also...

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On October 7, 2000, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that "during the Jewish High Holidays, members of the youth committee of Congregation Temple Israel in Creve Coeur are collecting hundreds of pairs of shoes - one pair for each Missourian who was killed by gun violence this year. The youths will focus on children killed...The youth committee will display the "silent march" shoe exhibit as part of an Interfaith Forum for Sensible Gun Laws at the temple on Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m."

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On September 29, 2000, The San Francisco Chronicle published an article entitled, "Temple-State Separation; At Rosh Hashanah, Jews Reflect on Sen. Lieberman and Their Place in American Life."

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

On September 29, 2000, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on the St. Charles County Social Justice Alliance's Stop the Hate rally, interfaith fellowship and candlelight vigil. The service "will include talks by concerned community activists, interfaith prayers and music by the B'hai Choir. The service will end with a candlelight vigil in the circular driveway of St. Charles Presbyterian. The St. Charles County Social Justice Alliance was spawned from last year's Stop the Hate Rally-also held at St. Charles Presbyterian......

Source: The Plain Dealer

On September 23, 2000, The Plain Dealer published an article entitled, "Criticism of Hindu Plucked from Web." It reported that "some members of a Christian conservative group apparently believe Congress erred when it allowed a Hindu priest from Parma to give a historic invocation before the House of Representatives last week. But the Family Research Council, best known for its former leader, one-time presidential candidate Gary Bauer, backed away yesterday from its criticism that Venkatachalapathi Samuldrala's prayer in the Capitol...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On September 23, 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported that "in Los Angeles, workers are busily renovating three ramshackle sites into gleaming new homes. Credit the First African Methodist Episcopal Church for the vision--and the $ 6 million it will take to revamp the sites into 38 new units for AIDS sufferers. In Compton, an abandoned home once disfigured with graffiti now boasts new carpets, shiny tiles and freshly planted hibiscus--and will soon be sold to a low-income family. Credit My Friend's House, a Whittier congregation,...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On September 23, 2000, the Los Angeles Times reported that "President Clinton signed into law Friday a bill designed to restore strong legal protections for religious freedom when conflicts arise with cities, zoning boards, prisons and nursing homes. 'Religious liberty is a constitutional value of the highest order, and the framers of the Constitution included protection for the free exercise of religion in the very first amendment,' Clinton said in a statement after signing the bill. 'This act recognizes the importance the free...