Source: New York Daily News

On April 8, 2001, the New York Daily News reported on St. Benedict Joseph Labre School in Richmond Hill, in Queens. It is a Catholic school, but "about 20% of the students are Sikhs, 20% are Hindus and 5% are Muslim." Many of the Hindu and Sikh mothers "said they like the structure, morality and emphasis on education at St. Benedict Joseph Labre." Administrators and students report that everyone at the school respects differences in religion or racial background.

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On April 7, 2001, The Houston Chronicle reported on the sect of about 1 million Shi'ite Muslims worldwide. Every year a story, "recounted as part of Ashara Mubaraka observances," is told about the grandson of Muhammad, whom they "consider the rightful successor to Islam's main prophet." This year, His Holiness Dr. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin Saheb, "told the story for the first time outside of India, Pakistan or East Africa. About 12,000 people gathered to hear him...at the Houston mosque, which has about 200 member families...

Source: The Tennessean

http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/01/04/03814884.shtml?Element_ID=3814884

On April 1, 2001, The Tennessean reported that the Bible Belt is now home to "Six Buddhist communities. Five Jewish congregations. Five Islamic mosques. A Baha'i center. A Hindu temple and a Hindu ashram, or teaching abode. Plus assorted Sikhs and Jains...Others exist, too." Tom Russell, a...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On April 1, 2001, The Houston Chronicle reported that "growing numbers of South Asians these days" are posting personal ad on matrimonial Web sites geared specifically toward their culture," in which arranged marriage is still common...Scores of such Internet venues...have sprung up in recent years" in America as elsewhere.

Source: Los Angeles Times

On April 1, 2001, Los Angeles Times reported on a shelter for battered women in Garden Grove that is "one of the few in Southern California that serves Muslims who, for complex religious and cultural reasons, think they cannot go anywhere else." The creator of the shelter said "it would be extreme humiliation" to a Muslim woman to go to any other shelter.

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

On March 31, 2001, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that at a Sabbath service at Temple Ohav Shalom in Pennsylvania, Jews and Muslims were described as "close-knit cousins." Farooq Hussaini of the Islamic Center of Greater Pittsburgh said Islam "has more in common with the Judeo-Christian faith than with any of the world's other religions." The rabbi who led the service noted that both groups have experienced being "the other."

Source: The Seattle Times

http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis/web/vortex/display?s

On March 31, 2001, The Seattle Times reported that "in the Seattle area, a number of kosher restaurants and food stores have sprung up...The Puget Sound area has seen a steady rise in the number of Jews moving to the area--from 30,000 a decade ago to about 37,000 now," including many who are reclaiming orthodox rituals and traditions. "The...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On March 30, 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported that "Buddhists reacted with restraint" to the Taliban's destruction of two historic stone statues of the Buddha. "American Buddhists and scholars of Buddhism are still piecing together the meaning of" the destruction of the statues.

Source: The Boston Globe

On March 30, 2001, The Boston Globe reported that "the dream of an Islamic center and mosque in Boston is nearing reality after being deferred almost a decade." Muslims are now estimated to number from 50,000 to 70,000 in the Boston area. They currently worship at a half-dozen small mosques.

Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

https://sfchronicle.newsbank.com/browse/SFCB/2001/march/26/1

On March 26, 2001, The San Francisco Chronicle reported that "results of the 2000 U.S. Census will begin revealing the impact of two of the most powerful forces of demographic change in the Bay Area...

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/03/25/city/EVANG25.htm

On March 25, 2001, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that "responding to Muslims has become a keen concern for many Christians as they watch Islam's steady growth in size and respectability in this country. While Roman Catholic and most Mainline Protestant churches promote theological tolerance and dialogue," evangelical leaders have rallied "their troops...

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/newsatlanta/alamin/032201.html

On March 22, 2001, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that "Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin's supporters say a sheriff's deputy threatened to kill Al-Amin...[Al-Amin] is accused of killing Deputy Ricky Kinchen and wounding Deputy Aldranon English in a shootout March 16, 2000...The threat adds to tensions between the sheriff's...

Source: The Washington Post

On March 22, 2001, The Washington Post reported that, "reflecting the growth of the Muslim population in Fairfax and Loudoun counties, Muslim leaders have announced plans to build a mosque near Dulles International Airport." The All Dulles Area Muslim Society serves about 1,600 Muslims. "The new mosque will seat 900 people and will house a full-time child care center, library, weekend school and an indoor recreational facility."

Source: Reno Gazette-Journal

http://www.rgj.com/news2/stories/news/985328798.php

On March 22, 2001, The Reno Gazette-Journal reported that "Sparks police said Wednesday the second teen suspect has been arrested in last week's baseball bat attack on two men outside a mosque, and local Muslim leaders said at an interfaith gathering they accept the police theory that it may not be a hate crime...Other Muslims said they think the motivation for the attack may have been the...

Source: The Boston Globe

On March 21, 2001, The Boston Globe published an op-ed article by Don Muhammad, a regional minister of the Nation of Islam, in which he criticized Bush's faith-based initiative. His principle criticism was of the exclusion of the Nation of Islam from the initiative.