Source: Los Angeles Times

On October 9, 2002 the Los Angeles Times reported that "on their fifth annual tour for world peace and universal compassion, the monks from the Gaden Jangtse Tsawa Khangsten monastery in south-central India have visited dozens of schools, universities, churches, prisons and private homes across North America spreading a message of peace. The tour will end in New Hampshire in February... Students at Oak Grove School [CA]... spent [Tuesday] morning watching eight Tibetan monks perform folkloric dances, engage in spiritual...

Source: The Commercial Appeal

On October 7, 2002 The Commercial Appeal reported that "hundreds of people followed a Buddhist monk on a slow walk through Overton Park Saturday morning. 'Peace is something you can contemplate every day, and walking is one way,' said Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddhist monk who led Peace Walk 2002."

Source: The Associated Press

On September 28, 2002 The Associated Press reported that "the latest U.S. Census shows more than 9,600 Vietnamese-Americans live in the Oklahoma City area, about twice as many as 10 years ago. The 2000 data counted 12,500 Vietnamese-Americans in Oklahoma, nearly double the population of the second-largest Asian group - Chinese-Americans... Plans also are under consideration to make the city's landmark gold dome a Vietnamese community center."

Source: The Deseret News

On September 28, 2002 The Deseret News reported that "religious groups around the country are finding ecological issues hard to ignore. Clergy are speaking from the pulpit on global warming and Arctic drilling, and practicing what they preach in their own churches, synagogues, temples and mosques... Across faiths, the environmental movement has been evolving slowly over the past decade or more. Denominations have started looking into their traditions, examining how their beliefs could be applied to ecological issues and...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On September 28, 2002 The Houston Chronicle reported that "despite the difficulties of collecting data, the numbers in the census released last week reveal the strength of religion county-by-county across America. The report said that 141.3 million people, or 50.2 percent of the U.S. population, were involved with churches, synagogues, mosques or temples. That makes the United States one of the most religious nations in the world, said Houseal, a statistician for the Church of the Nazarene. However, the number does not...

Source: State-Times/Morning Advocate

On September 28, 2002 the State-Times/Morning Advocate reported on different religious traditions and their beliefs about cremation. It stated, "cremation is common among Eastern religions. Hindus in India have crematoriums that are open all the time. The families quickly prepare the body, and family and friends go to the funeral pyre. Since the Buddha was cremated, most Buddhists follow this example. In Islam, cremation is forbidden, based on rituals regarding the dead found in the Quran and Sunnah. Muslims consider...

Source: Modesto Bee

On September 28, 2002 Modesto Bee reported on a "meditation group -- one of three now operating in Modesto -- recently started under the tutelage of [Grace] Schireson, a licensed psychologist who was ordained as a Zen priest in 1998. It emphasizes a structured format of sitting and walking meditation designed to guide members toward enlightenment. In the process -- with the help of Schireson -- they also confront issues and habits in their own personalities that could stand in the way of that. 'Zen traditionally is about revealing...

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On September 27, 2002 The Columbus Dispatch reported that "the [Glenmary] study estimates that Ohio has 142,255 Jews, 41,281 Muslims and 2,004 Bahais. It found 34 Buddhist, 19 Hindu, nine Sikh and seven Jain groups in the state but gave no membership estimates... This year's study included groups such as Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs for the first time. For Muslims, the 1.6 million national figure included only those who regularly attend mosques that reported figures; for Eastern religions, it included only the...

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On September 24, 2002 The San Francisco Chronicle reported that "Michael Wenger... Dean of Buddhist Studies at the San Francisco Zen Center... has booked the Castro Theatre for three days, starting today, for a series of films with Buddhist sensibilities, including Doris Dorrie's "Naked," which is getting its North American premiere. Called Real to Real: Buddhism and Film, the festival features nine movies and a cross-section of speakers... Real to Real may be the only festival in San Francisco that features...

Source: The Associated Press

On September 22, 2002 The Associated Press reported that "Minnesota's religious landscape became more diverse in the 1990s, although the state remains mostly Lutheran and Catholic, according to a survey of U.S. religious institutions. From 1990 to 2000, the state has seen double digit percentage increases for Jews and the Latter-day Saints. Muslims were also counted in significant numbers for the first time. The research also found that Minnesota has more evangelical Christians and fewer mainline Protestants... Minnesota is...

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On September 18, 2002 The Columbus Dispatch reported that "a Cambodian prince who has done intelligence work for that country's king said yesterday that [Rev. Lim Buntheoun],... abbot of a Buddhist temple in central Ohio, is the long-missing Prince Norodom Naradipo, potential heir to the throne. The declaration by Sisowath, 65, appeared to put him at odds with King Sihanouk, who is being treated in Beijing for prostate cancer and diabetes. 'Do I believe that Prince Naradipo is alive?' asked Prince Sisowath Suriyavong, after...

Source: Daily News

On September 18, 2002 Daily News reported that "Buddhists in Borough Park [NY] had their prayers answered when two Chinese monks with visa problems got clearance to dedicate the congregation's new temple. Faced with the prospect of canceling their long-awaited ceremony, distraught temple members contacted Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens/Brooklyn). Weiner called the State Department on their behalf, and the monks then were granted temporary visas."

Source: The Washington Post

On September 14, 2002 The Washington Post reported that "Americans toward the end of the 20th century began reexamining their religious affiliations with intensity after an unprecedented growth of 'nontraditional' U.S. faiths, said Diana L. Eck, founder of the Pluralism Project at Harvard University. No longer were Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Muslims 'just on the other side of the world,' Eck said. Now they were 'neighbors across the street, and the encounter of people of other religions [became] more prevalent.' This trend...

Source: The Plain Dealer

On September 12, 2002 The Plain Dealer reported that "throughout the [Northeast Ohio] region - in a Muslim mosque in Parma, at a Jewish candle-lighting ceremony downtown and in a daylong Buddhist walk of remembrance crossing nearly the entire city - people of all faiths joined in gestures of unity and respect... as thousands of worshippers gathered in special services, prayer vigils and communitywide events to commemorate the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in American history."

Source: Star Tribune

On September 10, 2002 the Star Tribune reported on the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers (MAP) which, "since 1995, has used nonviolence to promote peace... As the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks nears, MAP is finalizing plans for a peace observance at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday in Loring Park in downtown Minneapolis... Its member organizations range from the Minnesota Council of Churches and Minnesota Jews for a Just Peace to Veterans for Peace and Soka Gakkai International-USA/MN, a Buddhist organization."