Source: Honolulu Advertiser

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Mar/22/il/il15afaith.html

On March 22, 2003 the Honolulu Advertiser reported that "this month, Buddhists commemorate the festival of Higan ('the other shore'). As with many festivals in Japan, it's associated with ancestors who have gone to the other shore of the Pure Land. However, Higan in Buddhist teaching referred originally to the attainment of enlightenment or Nirvana....

Source: The Boston Globe

On March 22, 2003 The Boston Globe reported that "the protesters who gathered on City Hall Plaza for the city's first interfaith antiwar march yesterday joined hands and prayed aloud to Jehovah, to Allah, to Jesus, and to Buddha for peace in Iraq. Then, in unison, they condemned the man they say is the real ultimate power behind the war: George W. Bush... Led by four Buddhist monks, nearly 200 protesters chanted songs, banged drums, and stuck daffodils in their hair as they walked from Cambridge to Copley Square, past the State...

Source: The Associated Press

On March 20, 2003 The Associated Press reported that "each Wednesday, four veterans of the U.S. military kneel and offer prayers for peace - using words of the faithful from all over the world - at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in the Yakima Valley... There are Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Bahai and even Zoroastrian prayers... 'We just don't think we have an exclusive voice to heaven,' said Bill Flower, 66, an Army veteran and a lifelong member of Holy Trinity... The idea came from the church's Spokane Diocese, which...

Source: Harvard University Gazette

On March 20, 2003 Harvard University Gazette reported that "One of the world's leading engaged Buddhists, Sulak Sivaraksa, currently a fellow of the Harvard Yenching Institute, spoke March 14 in a symposium called 'Buddhism, Globalization, and Social Change.' Also on the panel were Venerable Yifa, a Taiwanese Buddhist nun and director of the Greater Boston Buddhist Cultural Center; Charles Hallisey, associate professor of Buddhist studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison; and Janet Gyatso, the Hershey Professor of...

Source: Religion News Service

http://www.Beliefnet.com/story/124/story_12435_1.html

On March 20, 2003 Religion News Service reported that "Buddhists and Roman Catholic bishops sat down at a California retreat center recently for their first round of official dialogue... The March 20-23 talks were the first for the two sides, organized by the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association, the San Francisco Zen Center and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The 14 Buddhists...

Source: The Fresno Bee

http ://w ww.fresnoneighbors.com/showcase/story/6364678p-7313029c.html

On March 17, 2003 The Fresno Bee reported that "the growth of congregations in Fresno [CA] is also coming from religions other than Christianity. The Fresno Betsuin Buddhist Temple on Kern Street recently bought a 7-acre parcel on Alluvial Avenue near Willow Avenue. It has been downtown for more than a century... A new Sikh temple is being built on 14 acres of vineyard south of Fresno near Highway 99 and a $5 million Central...

Source: Tricycle

http://www.tricycle.com/currentissue/enkyo_ohara.html

On March 17, 2003 Tricycle reported that "Sensei Enkyo O’Hara is abbot of the Village Zendo, in Lower Manhattan. A Zen priest, she is a dharma heir in the Maezumi-Glassman line of the White Plum Sangha of Soto Zen Buddhism. She serves as an elder in the Zen Peacemaker Order, part of an interfaith network integrating spiritual practice with peacemaking and social action... [She said in an...

Source: The Omaha World-Herald

On March 16, 2003 The Omaha World-Herald reported that "hundreds of people marched in Omaha Saturday chanting, 'Drop Bush, not bombs...' The march through downtown Omaha was part of a 11/2-hour rally staged by the Act to Stop War Coalition, a loosely knit group of local people opposed to a U.S. invasion of Iraq... On Saturday, exhortations against war came from such speakers as former U.S. Rep. John Cavanaugh; the Rev. Damian Zuerlein of Our Lady of Guadulupe Catholic Church; Rabbi Craig Marantz of Temple Israel; Ibrahim...

Source: Daily Tribune

Source: The Sikh Coalition

On March 4, 2003 The Sikh Coalition reported that "The Sikh Coalition and Amric Singh (Rathour) filed a federal lawsuit challenging the New York Police Department's (NYPD) "no turban" policy. Amric Singh was terminated by the NYPD in August 2001 for refusing orders to remove his turban and trim his beard, both required by his religion... A contingent of Sikh police officers from Canada and Great Britain joined Amric Singh at the press conference. The Sikh officers stressed that the turban did not impede their ability to perform...

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2820377.stm

On March 4, 2003 the BBC News reported, "The findings from the recent census also show many Christians in the region are returning to their evangelical roots. Devon and Cornwall had a population of 1,576,186 when the census was taken in 2001. Most describe themselves as Christian...

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Many-faiths-hold-service-to-deter-war-2-000-2666186.php

On March 3, 2003 the San Francisco Chronicle reported that "nearly...

Source: The Seattle Times

On March 1, 2003 The Seattle Times reported that "the Northwest Dharma Association [in Washington] is working to transform itself, to create a tighter, better-connected society of Buddhists in the Northwest... For the past decade, the association has been little more than a few volunteers organizing meditation retreats and producing a newsletter and Web site with information for the Northwest's Buddhists... But this winter, the association is structuring itself to become a more formal, partly...

Source: Tri-Valley Herald

On March 1, 2003 the Tri-Valley Herald reported that "Tibetans here [in California] and around the world this weekend will be chanting, praying and meditating to rid themselves of negativity for the coming year. Then on Monday they will celebrate the Tibetan New Year... At Alameda's Orgyen Dorje Den, a Tibetan Buddhist Meditation Center in the Nyingma tradition, dozens of people gathered Thursday and Friday for a powerful 'reversal ceremony.' They will do the same today... Spiritual leaders said the ceremonies, held in three-hour...

Source: The Associated Press

On February 28, 2003 The Associated Press reported that "nearly two years ago, Soka University [in CA] was touted as a Buddhist-inspired experiment where learning to make money was less important than promoting world peace and everyone from the president to the student had a say about the school's future... Now a handful of students and a quarter of the original 20 faculty members have left or will leave by June amid allegations of sectarianism and secrecy at the private liberal arts college founded and operated by Soka Gakkai...