Source: The Houston Chronicle

On January 12, 2002, The Houston Chronicle reported that "a Houston-area witch says in a lawsuit that members of a Unitarian Fellowship program fell far short of their promise to welcome people of all religious beliefs when... they dismissed her... Mary LeBlanc says in a lawsuit filed this week that members of a Unitarian group belittled her disabilities and religion and harassed her to violate her religious beliefs by teaching them secret Wiccan rituals... LeBlanc said she first joined the Unitarian Fellowship... because it...

Source: The Washington Post

On January 9, 2002, The Washington post reported that Enaas Sansour of Virginia said "a male airline security screener at Baltimore-Washington International Airport forced her to remove her scarf last month. In front of strangers... Even though the metal detector, she said, never sounded.. 'No guys are supposed to see my hair until my husband sees it when I get married,' said Sansour, 17... 'It was very humiliating with all those people staring at me like I did something wrong'... the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic...

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-000001664jan07.story?coll=la%2Dheadlines%2Dnation

On January 7, 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported that in Wisconsin, "a state representative from... West Salem is leading a drive to yank funding for Witch's $32,500-a-year post, saying taxpayers 'shouldn't be forced to accept this hocus-pocus.' Two other lawmakers have joined him in outrage; one...

Source: Newsday

On December 29, 2001, Newsday featured an article on three stories of religious conversion. Harpritam Kaur describes her spiritual journey to her conversion to Sikhism. "One Sunday morning in 1997 as she walked past a gas station on her way to church, she saw a young man wearing a turban pacing back and forth and praying. 'You could see the love of God in this man,' she recalls. Kaur says she thought he was a Muslim - at the time she didn't know who the Sikhs were - until she stopped to talk to him... Kaur began attending the Sikh Cultural...

Source: Star Tribune

On December 29, 2001, The Star Tribune featured an article entitled "Faces of Islam" on Muslim women in Minnesota. "For some Twin Cities women, a search for spiritual fulfillment has led them to Islam. They gather weekly and find strength in their Halaqa, or Circle of Faith" a women's group that studies the Qur'an. "Most of the members are converts, but a few are Muslim-born. They all seek spiritual fulfillment in Islam... Women in the circle said the idea that every woman who wears a hijab, as the head scarf is commonly called, does...

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

On December 19, 2001, The Christian Science Monitor featured a lengthy article on interfaith marriages saying that "at holiday time, interfaith couples can teach the nation about getting along with those of different religions." The article focused on several families and how they negotiate the holiday season as interfaith families. "Most sociologists believe that the number of interfaith unions will continue to increase in the United States... Currently, 50 percent of Jews marry non-Jews, and half of Catholics marry...

Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20011218-9999_1m18sikh.html

On December 18, 2001, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported "Hate-crime victim is slowly getting her life back on the road." The article noted, "It's been three months since Swaran Kaur Bhullar, a Sikh, was stabbed while sitting in her car at an intersection on Miramar Road, apparently by someone who mistook her for an Arab or Muslim. 'I'm trying to...

Source: The Boston Globe

On December 14, 2001, The Boston Globe featured a movie review of the documentary "Trembling Before G_d" which documents the struggles of "gay men and lesbians who want to practice Orthodox Judaism." The review reported that "the director [of the film], himself a gay Orthodox Jew, travelled to cities around the world to interview his subjects... The rigidity of many of the rabbis interviewed is balanced by the presence of the openly gay Orthodox rabbi Steve Greenberg, who offers a more progressive, but no less scholarly,...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On December 11, 2001, the Los Angeles Times featured an article on Dia Richardson, a recent convert to Islam. "Richardson personifies the majority [of converts]: African American, urban, in search of answers and a more disciplined form of worship... Like many new converts of any faith, Richardson came to Islam at a time of crisis. A few weeks ago, she lost her latest job, her apartment in Acton, and then her father broke his hip and slipped into a coma during surgery... She [now] enjoys reading the Koran in English and has been...

Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer

http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/49987_zarby10.shtml http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/49987_zarby10.shtml http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/local/49987_zarby10.shtml

On Monday December 10, 2001, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer featured a story on Zarby Kakar. The article highlighted her fears and concerns as an...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On December 10, 2001, the Los Angeles Times featured an article on the Buddhist festival celebrating Buddha's enlightenment. "The festival is among the most significant in the Buddhist calendar, representing the day humanity learned the reason for suffering and the way to escape it." The article focuses on a small monastic community of monks and nuns in Ventura County, California. "The monks follow the Zen school of Buddhism, stressing daily meditation. The temple and retreat center is made up of several low-slung houses nestled...

Source: The Boston Globe

On December 9, 2001, The Boston Globe reported that wearing hijab, a head scarf, is a "religious practice [that] singles a woman out in America, but the Muslim women who took part in the clergy-sponsored interfaith program [in Plymouth, MA] said they welcomed the increased attention Americans have paid to their religion after the September terrorist attacks... organizers [of the program] focused the final session of 'Exploring Islam: An Interfaith Conversation' on the role of women. Three women from the UMass-Dartmouth Islamic...

Source: No source given.

http://www.circlesanctuary.org/liberty

The Lady Liberty League is following this story on their website "www.circlesanctuary.org"

Source: Wisconsin State Journal

http://www.wisconsinstatejournal.com/local/8446.html

On December 6, 2001, the Wisconsin State Journal featured an article on Rev. Jamyi Witch, the new Wiccan chaplain at Waupun Correctional Institution in Wisconsin. "Rep. Scott Walker, R-Wauwatosa, head of the assembly committee that egulates prison, said he was 'offended' by Witch's religion and was looking into whether she had been hired in defiance of the state's hiring freeze... At...

Source: The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On December 5, 2001, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that a 'sold-out' crowd of more that 350 people curious about Islam "flowed into Oakland's Islamic Center of Pittsburgh for the seventh Humanity Day -- a chance to give non-Muslims a peek at the religion." Among other activities "non-Muslim women were invited to try the hijab, or head covering, and showed how to put it on and tie it. Many wore them throughout the evening."