Source: Star Tribune

On March 22, 2002, the Star Tribune featured an article on the upcoming "'Beyond Belly Dancers, Bombers and Billionaires _ Arabs and Muslims Out Loud!'... [a] showcase of a dozen performers, being staged tonight at Intermedia Arts in south Minneapolis, spotlights a spectrum of creative expression including, but not exclusive to, political roots... Tying the acts together is the theme 'Voluntary Testimony' as a response to the thousands of Middle Easterners who have been detained and questioned by the government over the past...

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

On March 22, 2002, The Columbus Dispatch reported that Columbus, OH area Hindus "hope that this year's observance of Holi, a major spring holiday of their faith, will end the religious violence that has killed some 700 Muslims and Hindus in India in recent weeks... Part of the celebration... involves people in spraying one another with colored water or splattering each other with colored powder... Smearing others with colors has a leveling effect... 'This festival transcends all sectarian traditions,' said Shive K....

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/2912411.htm

On March 22, 2002, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported, "Muslims protest raids on groups, homes in Va." It noted that "Officials of Islamic groups voiced outrage yesterday at a series of raids, mainly in the capital's Virginia suburbs, by federal agents seeking evidence that the groups were contributing to terrorists. About 150 officers from several agencies executed...

Source: The Boston Herald

On March 20, 2002, The Boston Herald reported that "firefighters and police from throughout Massachusetts joined lawmakers and religious leaders yesterday in a State House tribute to the victims of Sept. 11...

At an interfaith service in the House chamber, Imam Talal Eid of the Islamic Center of New England condemned the attacks... 'Those people do not represent the faith of Islam... They committed a murder against humanity,' Eid said."

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0319/p14s02-lecl.html

On March 19, 2002, The Christian Science Monitor reported that "education about religious holidays, particularly Christian ones, has long been a lightning rod for parental concerns. But this year, not surprisingly, Islam as a faith has come under particular scrutiny... Study about Islam was already part of many school curriculums. But some parents have raised concerns about...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On March 18, 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported that "the City Council of church-filled Bakersfield [CA] decided to place the national motto... 'In God We Trust'...to the walls of City Hall... 'We are doing something great tonight,' the councilwoman who suggested the posting said when it was overwhelmingly approved a few weeks ago... More remarkable has been the public debate that accompanied her proposal, the letters to the local paper condemning it and the fact that it was not supported by the mayor... The dissension...

Source: The New York Times

On March 17, 2002, The New York Times reported that "from the 8th to the 14th centuries in Spain, Christians, Jews, and Muslims coexisted peacefully in an era that historians refer to as the "convivencia," or living together. On Thursday, the Newark Museum, [in Newark, NJ], will open a 'Garden of Remembrance: A Memorial to September 11,' inspired by the gardens of the convivencia. Baptist, Episcopal, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders will participate in the dedication... 'The garden was designed for...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On March 17, 2002, the Los Angeles Times featured an article on the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, CA. "Inside the mosque community... some object to non-Muslims visiting their sacred space; others warmly embrace them. Some women veil their entire bodies; others throw off such practices as outdated... The King Fahd Mosque's struggles to unite a people drawn from a broad range of ideologies, culture and race seem familiar and quintessentially American. The diversity belies the notion of an insular people in ideological...

Source: The New York Times

On March 17, 2002, The New York Times reported that "Indians are the fastest-growing Asian community on Long Island, nearly doubling in population from 17,523 in 1990 to 34,333 in 2000, according to the 2000 census. Asian Indians, who include Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and Christians, are now the largest Asian group on Long Island, followed by the Chinese and the Koreans... These Asian groups have grown enough in recent years to support their own supermarkets, language schools, churches, temples and mosques on Long Island,...

Source: India-West Newspaper

http://www.ncmonline.com/content/ncm/2002/mar/0315southasian.html

On March 15, 2002, India-West Newspaper reported "South Asians Main Targets of Sept. 11 Backlash." It noted that "The first major study of bias crimes in the U.S. after Sept. 11 terrorist attacks found that 96 percent of 243 incidents of violence that were documented targeted South Asians. In more than half of the incidents, the targets were Sikhs, whose men wear...

Source: The Boston Globe

On March 14, 2002, The Boston Globe featured an article on the four-part "Islam in the Modern World" series in Duxbury, MA. "Librarian Ellen Snoeyenbos said she was warned that some people would come with their own agendas to a discussion series on Islam. She said the series... has been a lightning rod for strong emotions, but has also revealed an openness to learning and surprising diversity here."

Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

On March 13, 2002, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reported that "in recent weeks, fighting between Muslims and Hindus in India has left more than 700 dead." The article examines how this violence is effecting the South Asian community in the Atlanta area. "Nearly two years ago, two Indians --- one Hindu and one Muslim --- formed South Asians for Unity (SA4U), an organization that hopes to strengthen relations between the various communities from the region living [in Atlanta]. Today the group has grown...

Source: The Plain Dealer

On March 13, 2002, The Plain Dealer reported that Islamic scholar Abdulaziz Sachedina, famous for his "interfaith work and advocacy for the rights of women,... packed local [Cleveland] mosques with eager listeners and attracted about 300 clergy to his lectures yesterday at Hiram College... Sachedina travels the West Bank and Israel, working for curriculum reform in Islamic and Jewish schools...But Sachedina's central endeavor, as a scholar at the University of Virginia and an adviser to the Center for Strategic and...

Source: The Boston Globe

On March 13, 2002, The Boston Globe reported that "last September, Mount Holyoke College held an opening ceremony for a new dining hall. Any other year, it would have been a festive occasion at the nation's oldest women's college... But when Wilder Hall was consecrated, it was two days after Sept. 11. The dining hall opened not merely to hungry students but to a sense of hope, prayer, and spiritual revolution... The kitchen at Wilder Hall, the first of its kind in an American university, serves meals that conform to...

Source: Newsday

On March 12, 2002, Newsday reported that "religious leaders across the city marked the six-month anniversary of the Sept. 11 tragedy yesterday with prayers for the victims and calls for healing and peace... The victims were remembered in temples, mosques and churches, as well as outdoor events across the city... Religious leaders from Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish and other congregations gathered at City Hall Park to remember the dead, but also to sharply criticize the war in Afghanistan. They also denounced reported plans of the...