Source: Democrat and Chronicle

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/news/0416story4_news.shtml

On April 16, 2003 the Democrat and Chronicle reported that "sprinkled among Rochester’s [NY] numerous Christian churches and Jewish synagogues are signs of Rochester’s growing religious diversity -- Tibetan, Laotian and Vietnamese Buddhist temples, a Sikh Gurdwara and a handful of botanicas, or shops, catering to, among others, followers of voodoo and...

Source: The Associated Press

http://www.hoosiertimes.com/stories/2003/04/14/news.0414-HT-A6_PJR27254.sto

On April 14, 2003 The Associated Press reported that "a Christian-centered prayer service at Muncie's [IN] city hall excluding other faiths has prompted plans for a rival interfaith gathering for the same day and place... Unitarian Universalist minister Thomas Perchlik said he regrets that the May 1 observation of the National Day of Prayer...

Source: The Washington Post

On April 13, 2003 The Washington Post printed and editorial by William J. Bennett stating that "in an editorial on Thursday titled 'Preacher Paige,' The Post joined a chorus of voices criticizing recent comments made by Secretary of Education Rod Paige on Christian values in education... But it is this very crusading secularism that has served to undermine the consensus about basic principles of virtue that existed in the public schools before the reign of the modernist creed took over. Indeed, the very idea behind the creation...

Source: The Chicago Sun-Times

http://www.suntimes.com/output/falsani/cst-nws-faith13.html

On April 13, 2003 The Chicago Sun-Times reported that "religious leaders [are debating about] what kind of participation religious groups should have in the rebuilding of Iraqi society... Bishop Mark Hanson, leader of the 5.1-million member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, hopes the Bush administration will listen to certain American religious leaders who are...

Source: The Argus

On April 13, 2003 The Argus reported that "even though this is only its second year, today's Interfaith Pagan Pride Parade will have an old soul... The theme is 'Ancient Voices,' honoring nature-based traditions throughout history that have 'revered the Earth as a church itself, the divinity within and around,' said parade organizer Micha Dunston... 'In Interfaith dialogue, the word pagan represents people who follow indigenous, tribal, polytheistic, nature-based and Earth-based beliefs,' Dunston said. 'So you have anything from...

Source: The Sacramento Bee

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/6449254p-7401158c.html

On April 13, 2003 The Sacramento Bee reported that "the Sikh presence at the Good News Rescue Mission during Thanksgiving of 2001 understandably attracted media attention... There, [Kawaljit] Singh took time to explain his religion, his turban, the small silver knife, or kirpan, he tucks in his belt. Some onlookers apparently saw it as going too far... Soon after the...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On April 12, 2003 the Los Angeles Times reported that "Jewish historians are turning back the clock to examine how Passover was celebrated in California and the West in the 19th century... Today, as Jews prepare to observe Passover, which begins Wednesday at sundown, Southern California has the nation's second-largest Jewish population -- roughly 600,000. By contrast, the overwhelmingly Catholic pueblo of Los Angeles of 1854 had fewer than 200 Jewish residents and no kosher bakery or butcher shop... A lay rabbi slaughtered animals...

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A15001-2003Apr12.html

On April 12, 2003 The Washington Post reported that "while thousands of raucous antiwar demonstrators marched through the streets of downtown Washington, a different kind of peace effort by a small group of Christians and Muslims was taking place in the parking lot of an aging brick church in Fairfax City... Instead of carrying placards and shouting slogans,...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On April 11, 2003 The Houston Chronicle printed an editorial stating that "Paige's personal preference that children be instructed in the faith might have been less controversial. He and other officials of President Bush's administration could be more demonstrative in their respect for the beliefs of non-Christians and nonbelievers. If officials are going to tout Christianity, they might at least raise healing the sick, feeding the hungry and clothing the naked on the administration's priority list."

Source: MPACnews

http://www.mpacnews.org/

On April 11, 2003 MPACnews reported that "religious members within the Department of Defense are protesting the Pentagon Chaplain's group sponsorship of an appearance by Franklin Graham at a Good Friday Prayer service scheduled for April 18th.� Graham, a Christian fundamentalist, has repeatedly insulted Islam, calling it a 'wicked religion.'� He is also planning to evangelize Iraqis under the cover of bringing humanitarian aid into the...

Source: The New York Times

On April 11, 2003 The New York Times published an editorial stating that "Dr. Paige insists that he is a strict observer of the separation of church and state. But too many in the administration seem more interested in fostering a divisive competition between church and state at taxpayers' expense through proposals to bolster, with public subsidies, religion's role in prisons, housing construction and other sensitive areas. Routine statements of belief in pluralism sound hollow coming from public servants who make a habit of...

Source: The Sheboygan Press

http://www.wisinfo.com/sheboyganpress/news/archive/feat_9727167.shtml

On April 11, 2003 The Sheboygan Press reported that "Bright Dawn Home, a new Buddhist retreat center near Plymouth, [Wisconsin] is opening its doors to the community with an activity-filled open house Saturday, April 26... The center is the realization of a dream for Chicago resident Richard Brandon. Raised Christian but later becoming Unitarian, he was...

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On April 10, 2003 The San Francisco Chronicle reported that " U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige said Wednesday that he will not resign his post despite a growing furor about an interview in which he praised Christian values over public schooling... In a hastily organized news conference, Paige attempted to clarify remarks he made Monday to the Baptist Press, the national news service of the Southern Baptist Convention... The news conference was intended to stem growing criticism by the American Civil Liberties Union, the...

Source: The Times-Picayune

On April 10, 2003 The Times-Picayune reported that "members of First Unitarian Universalist Church are celebrating their congregation's 170th year in New Orleans as a small bastion of spiritual liberalism embedded in conservative New Orleans... Continuing a recent tradition, members of the congregation of 100 or so ended a regular Sunday service March 23 by laying a wreath on the grave of the Rev. Theodore Clapp, a robust, colorful figure who in 1833 founded what would become First Unitarian Universalist after being expelled as a...

Source: San Antonio Express-News

On April 9, 2003 the San Antonio Express-News reported that "the Texas Senate voted Tuesday to require the state's 4.1 million public school students to pause for a daily minute of silent prayer, meditation or reflection... The measure, by Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, also mandates that school districts require students to recite the Texas and U.S. pledges of allegiance before the minute of silence... Students could be excused from the pledge recitals upon written notice from a parent or guardian, but they wouldn't be...