Source: The Associated Press

Source: Arab News

http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=22434

On February 1, 2003 the Arab News reported that "the number of pilgrims coming for this year’s Haj from the United States is estimated at just 7,000, according to the US Consulate in Jeddah... That figure is 3,000 lower than last year, according to official statistics... Some are questioning whether the reason for the decrease in the number of US pilgrims this year is that this may be a bad time for Muslims...

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3956-2003Jan30.html

On January 31, 2003 The Washington Post reported that "at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which featured Vice President Cheney as its opening luncheon speaker yesterday, one of the various exhibition booths hawking paraphernalia had some virulently anti-Muslim vinyl bumper stickers... including one that said: 'No Muslims -- No Terrorism...'...

Source: swissinfo

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/census-reveals-shift-away-from-religion/3139170

On January 30, 2003 swissinfo reported, "The religious landscape in Switzerland has undergone a sea change, with a growing number of people moving away...

Source: Rocky Mountain News

On January 30, 2003 the Rocky Mountain News reported that "Tom Coburn, a widely respected scholar in comparative religions, was named president of Naropa University [in Colorado] on Wednesday... The appointment was seen as a coup that could raise the profile in academia of the 25-year-old Buddhist institution that emphasizes spiritual growth... The Harvard- and Princeton-educated Coburn, 58, teaches and holds administrative positions at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. He has lived in India and the Middle East and is...

Source: The Associated Press

http://www.dominionpost.com/a/news/2003/01/30/bg/

On January 30, 2003 The Associated Press reported that "an Islamic group targeted by vandals and threats is offering $500 for information about the perpetrators, whose actions have been condemned by some local Christian and Jewish leaders... The latest incident occurred Friday, when someone used a chain saw to cut down and steal a sign for the Islamic Society of Western Maryland's mosque on the...

Source: The Wichita Eagle

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation/5066994.htm

On January 30, 2003 The Wichita Eagle reported that "an award-winning art exhibit that helped spread religious understanding in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks languishes in a 4-by-8-foot storage locker, waiting for a home. The exhibit will move wherever it's welcome, said Diane Thomas Lincoln, the Wichita State University art professor who directed its...

Source: The Times-Picayune

On January 29, 2003 The Times-Picayune reported that "New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary on Tuesday formally named its undergraduate college Leavell College in honor of an influential Southern Baptist family that produced three generations of preachers, missionaries, church leaders and two former seminary presidents... Former seminary President Landrum Leavell II, 76, returned from semi-retirement in Wichita Falls, Texas, to the institution he led for 20 years to serve as the focus of the ceremonies. In a chapel sermon...

Source: The Boston Globe

On January 28, 2003 The Boston Globe reported that "at the Capitol in Washington, amid all the pomp and circumstance that Congress can muster, President Bush is expected to lay out his case tonight for a possible war... At the same time, at Boston's storied Trinity Church, leaders of many of the state's religious traditions will be gathering in their full liturgical finery to make their own case, for peace... Bishop M. Thomas Shaw, leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, [organized] tonight's religious event, at which...

Source: The Interfaith Alliance

http://www.interfaithalliance.org/press/index.htm

On January 28, 2003 The Interfaith Alliance reported that "tonight, during his third State of the Union address to the nation, President George W. Bush is expected to urge Congress to swiftly pass his beleaguered faith-based initiative and issue an appeal to the American people for support on a possible war with Iraq. Both items have caused much controversy within the religious liberty...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On January 26, 2003 the Los Angeles Times reported that "Irvine... has emerged as one of the nation's most religiously diverse suburbs... Here, there's a Buddhist temple that can house 42 monks, a Korean church that boasts 4,000 members and a $50-million K-12 Jewish day school. There's a $ 4-million Islamic elementary school, the county's largest Greek Orthodox Church and a university run by the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod... Ahead is a $37-million Jewish community center and a Mormon temple, which sits just outside Irvine'...

Source: The Dominion Post

http://www.dominionpost.com/a/news/2003/01/24/ab/

On January 24, 2003 The Dominion Post reported that "a WVU student told FBI agents Wednesday he crashed his car into the side of an Evansdale mosque last week -- but then drove off because he thought the accident was minor and not worth reporting... No charges have been filed against the student, whose name wasn't released Thursday by the FBI or city police... The admission by the Indian student...

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

[philly.com/mld/inquirer/living/religion/4992942.htm]

On January 23, 2003 The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that "in the sanctuary of the Fort Dix Chapel, soldiers attend a traditional Protestant service at 9 on Sunday mornings... Fifteen minutes after it finishes, another group comes in for a Catholic Mass, and 15 minutes after the Mass ends, an African American-oriented gospel service gets under way... Down the hallway, Muslims have afternoon meetings Mondays through Fridays in a room...

Source: The Dominion Post

http://www.dominionpost.com/a/news/2003/01/16/ac/

On January 23, 2003 The Dominion Post reported that "a vehicle careened into the side of the mosque at 441 Harding Ave., just off University Avenue [in Morgantown, W. VA]... Ahmed el-Sherbeeny, a mechanical engineering doctoral student from Egypt who regularly prays at the mosque, doesn't think it was an accident -- as he pointed to tire tracks that he said show the vehicle backing up to make...

Source: The Boston Globe

On January 23, 2003 The Boston Globe reported that "parents asked school officials at a School Committee meeting last week to do more to accommodate students who want to observe the Jewish High Holy Days - if making those days holidays is not practical, parents said... The Regional School Committee of Berlin and Boylston postponed until Feb. 5 a decision on whether to close for the holy days so committee members could get more information about the district's demographics and policies in neighboring communities... Committee...