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• Atlantans of many faiths pack pews, pray for peace | Two hundred solemn faces—some seasoned with age, others fresh with youth—packed the pews at the Ebenezer Baptist Church on Monday night as leaders from various faiths took to the pulpit to pray for peace (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
  
  
• Church Iraq statement 'welcomed' | Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has welcomed the statement on Iraq by leaders of the UK's Catholic and Anglican churches - despite their concerns about the moral case for war (BBC | video)

Faith-based initiative:

• Secularists target prison charity | The Bush administration's faith-based charity initiative has reached another hurdle as its critics sue a religious program in Iowa prisons and a new welfare rule on religion receives its final public comments today (The Washington Times)
  
  
• 'Armies of compassion' heed different calls | One of the possible effects of President Bush's faith-based initiative proposal is that organizations such as the Nashville Rescue Mission could receive federal funding without changing the religious focus of its counseling programs (The Tennessean)
  
  
• Initiative needs more than faith | It makes sense to put faith-based organizations on equal footing for funds (The Indianapolis Star)
  
  
• Clear ground rules quell worries on religious funding | There are better ways the government can encourage the good works of religious organizations without undermining constitutional values (Editorial, USA Today)
  
  
• Religious charities can help | The CARE Act does not change the civil-rights landscape in any way (Rick Santorum, USA Today)
  
  
• State, groups discuss aid | Nonprofits want to hear details of Bush initiative (Anchorage Daily News)

Church and state:

• Christian prayer our heritage | Many clergy, when asked to open the legislative sessions in prayer at our state Capitol, have ended their prayers in the name of Jesus Christ (H. Wayne Williams, Rapid City Journal)

• School talk dispute didn't need to occur | Renting the building to the Pensacola Study Group, an affiliate of the Nation of Islam, does not mean that the School District endorses the group's beliefs, no more than renting it to a group of Baptists, gardeners, or environmentalists would mean an endorsement of their views (Editorial, Pensacola [Fla.] News Journal)

• Christian group sues over facility-use fee | County charges church an hourly fee for using a public building that other community groups can use free (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Prayer issue heating up in Temecula | In a move to restore sectarian prayer as a regular part of its twice-monthly meetings, the City Council plans on enlisting the services of Southwest County Assemblyman Ray Haynes, officials said Monday (North County Times, Escondido, Calif.)
  
  
• Court orders some religious language stricken from graduation speech | A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling dismissing a lawsuit filed by the student, saying that the actions of school officials were correct because the "proselytizing" nature of portions of the speech amounted to forcing the audience at the commencement ceremony to take part in a religious exercise (UPI)
  
  
• Secularists target prison charity | Two lawsuits say the prison used Iowa monies to teach Christianity, discriminated by hiring only workers of a particular religious view, and gave privileges to prisoners who joined. (The Washington Times)
  
  

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February (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47