Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On December 2, 2002 The San Francisco Chronicle reported that "a recently released survey by San Francisco's Institute of Jewish and Community Research shows that a far higher percentage of people in Marin County [CA] than in the rest of the country embrace alternative religions or no religion at all. The findings, gathered from random telephone interviews of 604 people in April and May of 2000, do not mean the famously wealthy and liberal suburban county is full of barefoot pagans wearing robes and worshiping in the...

Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

On December 1, 2002 the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that "a construction company owner has been charged with a misdemeanor hate crime after two Boca Raton [FL] police officers said they watched him set fire to a sign announcing the new site of a mosque. George Aboujawdeh, 45, is the first person in Palm Beach County to be prosecuted for a hate crime directed at Muslims since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, said Michael Edmondson, a spokesman for the State Attorney's Office. Aboujawdeh, a Catholic who was born and...

Source: Herald-Leader

http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/local/4640933.htm

On December 1, 2002 the Herald-Leader reported that "born Michaela Colleen Jeffries, the Somerset, [Kentucky] resident and former Seventh-day Adventist converted to Islam in June, about a year after a tour of the Middle East led her to begin studying the Koran. 'Islam has given me an inner peace,' said Saleem, author of the autobiography Grasping for Love, about surviving...

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On November 30, 2002 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that "almost three months ago, police officials directed the Christian Leaders Fellowship to erect parking signs on Grant Street, adjacent to the popular Christmas creche scene by USX Tower Downtown. Then this week, after the signs went up, the city's top lawyer said the signs may be illegal and should come down. Looking for a compromise, other city officials said parking should still be allowed by the creche, but not marked by the church-funded signs. So...

Source: The Associated Press

[freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=17314]

On November 30, 2002 The Associated Press reported that "the [Ogden, UT] City Council has decided to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the municipal building lawn rather than continue a court battle over the display. The council had considered appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court a ruling that found that if the city allowed the commandments monument it also must allow one listing a religious group's precepts. The council cited...

Source: The Gazette

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Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

On November 30, 2002 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that "the American Jewish Committee has filed a legal brief urging a federal appeals court to maintain separation of church and state as it decides a Milwaukee-based case. The organization, a Jewish interest group concerned with religious pluralism, filed the brief along with the Anti-Defamation League and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. The filing opposes government funding of Faith Works Milwaukee, a residential treatment program...

Source: Rocky Mountain News

On November 29, 2002 Rocky Mountain News reported that "held in a different worship center every year, Denver's oldest Thanksgiving interfaith service was begun in the 1880s by two churches and a synagogue. The event has expanded to include three more Christian and Jewish groups and the Buddhist Temple, which has participated for almost 30 years. The one-hour service was capped by a bread-sharing ritual and closed with America the Beautiful. The service will be held next year at Central Christian Church in Denver."

Source: Austin American Statesman

On November 28, 2002 Austin American Statesman reported that "at Barsana Dham [in Texas], a Hindu temple, there were gathered a Roman Catholic bishop, an Episcopalian priest, Protestant ministers of various stripes (Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Unitarian and Baptist), a Jewish rabbi, Buddhist monks, a Muslim imam -- and more. That's not all. There were about 1,000 black people, brown people, yellow people and white people, men, women and children, and everybody took off their shoes in respect for Hindu ways."

Source: The Times-Picayune

On November 28, 2002 The Times-Picayune reported that "ever since the Sept. 11 attacks in America by Islamic extremists, Aneela Shuja of Kenner, a Muslim, has been on a mission to dispel the stereotypes and fear in the community about people of her faith. 'I felt somebody had to speak up or something bad was going to happen,' Shuja, 42, said. 'It is a calling for me. I have been encouraged to do this.' She's traveled around New Orleans talking at local public and Catholic schools and churches, to priests and politicians to...

Source: The Boston Globe

https://bostonglobe.newspapers.com/search/#query=%22wearing+a+gold+crucifix+and+a+flowing+black+robe+with+red+trim%22...

Source: Chicago Daily Herald

On November 27, 2002 the Chicago Daily Herald reported that "a smorgasbord of religions will emphasize the spiritual side of Thanksgiving next week. Participants in the DuPage Interfaith Thanksgiving Service will include Muslims, Catholics, Jews, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Sikhs, Bahais and theosophists. The annual service began in the early 1990s after members of the DuPage Interfaith Resource Network decided they could find common ground in recognizing that Thanksgiving goes deeper than turkey and football. The ceremony will...

Source: USA TODAY

On November 27, 2002 USA TODAY reported that "the volunteers who serve meals at the First Congregational Church in Washington, D.C., also give sustenance to another ideal -- this is a country where Muslims and Christians live and work together. Imam Johari Abdel-Malik and the Rev. Graylan Hagler conceived the idea of a Muslim-Christian volunteer effort early this fall. 'We are a community under siege after Sept. 11,' says Abdel-Malik, who is a Muslim chaplain at Howard University. 'We need to come out of our bubble. This is a good...

Source: CAIR-CAN [Council on American-Islamic Relations-Canada]

http://www.caircan.ca/aa_more.php?id=P186_0_3_0_C

On November 26, 2002 CAIR-CAN [Council on American-Islamic Relations-Canada] released a statement "asking Canadians to thank CFMT (OMNI) for their unqualified apology regarding recent statements made by Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart. CAIR-CAN filed a CRTC complaint on November 16th, 2002 regarding a November 10 broadcast by televangelist Jimmy Swaggart on CFMT...

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

On November 25, 2002 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that "a crowd of white, black, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist Milwaukeeans joined forces for a symbolic cleansing of the federal courthouse steps where white supremacists had rallied the day before. The Sunday ceremony followed a Saturday rally by about 50 members of the Ku Klux Klan, the National Socialist Movement and the World Church of the Creator, whose message of white separatism was jeered by hundreds of protesters...