On May 24, 2004 the Religion News Service reported that "James H. Burch, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of One Spirit will ordain Penelope Ann Thoms to the Catholic priesthood at 10:00 am on Sunday, June 13, 2004 at One Spirit Catholic Community, 13900 Stonefield Drive, Clifton, VA...
The Catholic Diocese of One Spirit is part of a group of ecumenical Catholic faith communities across the...
On May 21, 2004 Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force welcomed the announcement this week that a Muslim girls’ right to wear a headscarf at an Oklahoma school was upheld. "On Wednesday, May 19, The Department of Justice (DOJ), which filed a lawsuit on behalf of the sixth-grade student in March, announced the settlement revising the student...
On May 21, 2004 The Detroit Free Press reported that, at a recent celebration organized by the Muslim Scouts of Michigan at the Islamic House of Wisdom, 43 girls ages 8 to 11 participated in a Takleef festival. The festival marks their entry into spiritual adulthood, a stage where they have accepted the responsibility of the veil...
On May 20, 2004 The Washington Post reported, "Forty-eight Roman Catholic members of Congress have warned in a letter to Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington that U.S. bishops will revive anti-Catholic bigotry and severely harm the church if they deny Communion to politicians who support abortion rights.
The letter's...
On May 19, 2004 Religion News Service reported, "Catholics who vote for politicians who support abortion rights or gay marriage will be banned from Communion until they have 'recanted their positions' and confessed their sin, a Colorado bishop warned.
Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs said any Catholic who does not reflect church teaching in the voting booth 'makes a mockery...
On May 19, 2004 The American Jewish Congress reported that they "praised the settlement agreement between a Muskogee Oklahoma school girl, supported by the Justice Department, and the Muskogee Public School District, that will allow her to continue wearing her hijab. On May 7, 2004, AJCongress filed a friend of the court brief in the case of Nashala Hearn v....
On May 14, 2004 News OK reported, "A settlement on a lawsuit involving a Muslim girl suspended twice for wearing a head scarf awaits approval of the Muskogee School Board, court records reflected Thursday.
Nashala Hearn, an 11-year-old sixth-grader at Ben Franklin Science Academy, was suspended twice in October for wearing the religious scarf, or hijab, to school.
On May 13, 2004 The Boston Globe reported, "The Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, headed by three bishops who support gay marriage, is barring its priests from officiating at same-sex weddings, citing restrictive language in the canons and prayerbook of the church.
The decision by the Episcopal...
On May 11, 2004 The Post-Gazette reported on Asra Nomani, an American Muslim reporter at the Wall Street Journal, and "her moral jihad against the leadership of the Islamic Center of Morgantown, which she has taken to the editorial pages of The Washington Post and The New York Times. By her account, puritanical Arabs, whom she labels Wahhabis, a disputed and pejorative term for the strict strain of...
On May 11, 2004 Cleveland Jewish News ran a JTA article that reported, "With hundreds of rabbis, community activists and synagogue-goers in the audience, the excitement was palpable as Brazil's first female rabbi took to the bimah on Shabbat. Never before had a female spiritual leader been invited to the bimah at the 2,000-...
On May 7, 2004 The Houston Chronicle reported, "As a devout Muslim and international businesswoman, Nashida Subhi has worn her head scarf into corporate offices around the world. But now she has learned she will no longer be welcome in France unless she takes her scarf off for a photograph. The French Consulate in Houston recently denied Subhi's request for a visa to...
On May 2, 2004 The Boston Globe reported. "She's a 43-year-old wife and mother from Quincy, but Major Shareda Hosein is also on the brink of becoming a 4-foot-10, fatigue-clad symbol of all the tension between the Middle East and America. She's been in the Army for 24 years, either on active duty or serving in the reserves. Her jobs have...
On May 1, 2004 The Japan Times reported, "The government's bid to have a sacred area in western Japan registered as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage site is being challenged by those who claim it reinforces gender discrimination. A sign next to one of the four 'kekkai mon' gates that lead to Ominesanji Temple explains in English and Japanese that women are not...
