Source: Tulsa World

On October 31, 2002 Tulsa World reported that "an interfaith service written by three Tulsa women will be presented Friday in hundreds of cities nationwide. 'It's very unusual to have Tulsa people write the national service,' said Harriet Larsen, the leader of a Tulsa Church Women United group. The 'Daughters of Abraham' service on World Community Day, sponsored by Church Women United, was written by Mickey Simpson, who is on the CWU national board; Sheryl Siddiqui, representing the Tulsa Muslim community; and Jeanne Jacobs,...

Source: Star Tribune

On October 31, 2002 the Star Tribune reported that "Halloween is having a tough time hanging on in some Twin Cities schools as parents contend that the scary holiday conflicts with their families' religious beliefs. In religious traditions ranging from conservative Christian to Jewish to Muslim, Halloween is looked down upon among some adherents as a pagan observance or a celebration of evil spirits. Other parents say the real point of Halloween is the candy and the chance for children to pretend they are someone else. Some of the...

Source: Metro West Daily News

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/local_regional/wicca10292002.htm

On October 29, 2002 the Metro West Daily News reported that "the religion of Wicca, or paganism, now draws thousands of teenagers who say it is a healthy, individualistic faith that brings them closer to nature. Sarah Bernardi, a junior at Marlborough High School, was always intrigued by astrology and psychic powers. Bernardi is one of many local...

Source: The Oregonian

On October 28, 2002 The Oregonian reported that "faith leaders and followers gather at a Portland church to oppose an attack on Iraq and pray that others will join them. This demonstration -- for peace with Iraq -- came in the form of a worship service, beginning with a procession of about 20 faith leaders that included Christian clergy, a Jewish rabbi, a Zen Buddhist monk, a Sikh and others. About 50 people behind them in the honey-colored pews included Roman Catholics from Southeast Portland, Methodists from Oregon City, Muslims...

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=1688

On October 28, 2002 the Los Angeles Times reported that "led by the Rev. George Regas of the Progressive Religious Partnership, religious spokesmen in Los Angeles this week denounced the prospect of a preemptive war against Iraq as 'immoral, illegal and unwise.' The religious opponents of Bush's policy list a host of secular reasons for their position: Iraq has not declared war on the U.S.; there is...

Source: The Associated Press

http://www.fac.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=17169

On October 28, 2002 The Associated Press reported that "a federal judge says a Maui church’s zoning dispute won’t be decided based on a federal religious land-use law but will instead be decided on First Amendment grounds. On Oct. 24, U.S. District Judge Samuel P. King also dismissed members of the Maui County planning commission and the county planning director...

Source: The New York Times

On October 27, 2002 The New York Times reported that "a... legal brawl involving the mayor and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... over rights to a block of prime downtown land is almost certain to reach the United States Supreme Court in a test of First Amendment rights that also touches on the separation of church and state. At the center of the fight is the Main Street Plaza, a lovely block of flower beds and fountains that connects the main temple of the church's world headquarters and its main...

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On October 27, 2002 The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that "many followers of the three faiths descended from the patriarch Abraham --- a vast majority of Americans --- accept war as inevitable. If it can't be avoided, their goal becomes to conduct war with integrity. Perhaps the best-known rules of warfare are the "just war" principles, conceived by St. Augustine in the late fourth century and refined by St. Thomas Aquinas and a chain of other Christian thinkers through the years... other...

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On October 27, 2002 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that "many conservative Christians have stopped celebrating what today is the second -biggest commercial holiday, after Christmas, in America with an expected $6.9 billion in sales of candy, decorations and costumes this year. The anti-Halloween movement has ebbed and flowed in this country, flaring up most recently, experts say, around 20 years ago when reports of razor blades in apples and poisoned candies became more common, not to mention widespread vandalism...

Source: The Boston Globe

On October 27, 2002 The Boston Globe reported that "the piecemeal approach that John Allen Muhammad took to religion suggests that his fractured personality, more than his spiritual beliefs, led to the terrifying violence that killed at least 10 people. 'The fact that he shot black people shows that the Nation of Islam had nothing to do with it,' said Raqib Muied, who founded the Nation's Seattle mosque in 1963 and has since defected to another black Muslim group called the Muslim American Society. 'They tell me Timothy McVeigh...

Source: The New York Times

On October 27, 2002 The New York Times reported that "by many accounts, religion had always been a stabilizing factor in the life of John Allen Muhammad, who is charged with murder in the sniper rampage that killed 10 people in the Washington region. But as the behavior of the sniper suspect careened out of control this month, so did the character of the religious utterances -- furious proclamations of 'I am God' and belligerent telephone calls to priests -- that law enforcement officials attributed to him. A rapid and...

Source: Omaha World-Herald

On October 26, 2002 Omaha World-Herald reported that "Some... conservative Christians, Jews and Muslims, object to [Halloween's] pagan roots. But Halloween, which many Americans will celebrate Thursday, actually has numerous ties to Christian faiths. Halloween has its origins in the pagan celebration of the Celtic New Year, which fell during harvest time, around the beginning of November. The Celts - who lived in what are today the British Isles and France - honored the New Year with several festivals, the most important of...

Source: The Seattle Times

On October 26, 2002 The Seattle Times reported that "after a decade of futility, the prayers of Seattle's Christian Arabs were answered, and now the Maronite Catholic Mission is celebrating its one-year anniversary in Pinehurst near Lake City... Seattle's Arab Americans tried to lure a Maronite Catholic priest to town -- a pastor who could recite prayers in English, Arabic and Syriac, a dialect of the Semitic language Jesus Christ is believed to have spoken. Today, under the direction of the Rev. Peter Karam, who was raised in...

Source: National Council of Churches

http://www.ncccusa.org/news/02news89.html

On October 25, 2002 the National Council of Churches issued the comments of its General Secretary on the death of Senator Paul Wellstone. It read, "Senator Wellstone was fearless and faithful in his pursuit of justice for all persons. We at the National Council of Churches have more than once been grateful for his leadership on behalf of programs to assist the least, the last and the lost. His great...

Source: The Advocate

On October 25, 2002 The Advocate reported that "religious diversity can make a positive difference in a community, the director of interfaith relations [Rev. Jay Thomas Rock] for the National Council of Churches in Christ in USA said Thursday at the annual Baton Rouge Community Prayer Breakfast. 'It will take all of us to establish the kind of just society that we as religious people envision,' the Rev. Jay Thomas Rock said. 'Welcoming one whom we think is a stranger is not a matter of altruism. It is essential to our own spiritual...