ARSON AT COLUMBIA MOSQUE STIRS COMPASSION

ARSON AT COLUMBIA MOSQUE STIRS COMPASSION - TOPDonations pour in; 2 suspects plead guiltyChris Echegaray, Tennessean, 11/5/08
From the rubble of a firebombed mosque, relationships have emerged.
After local men burned the Islamic Center of Columbia, Tenn., to the ground in February, Muslim families had no place to worship. Donations came in to help establish a new center, and the First Presbyterian Church in town allowed them to worship at its church.
"It's just a great example of how we can believe different things and respect, celebrate each other," said Daoud Abudiab, president of the Islamic Center of Columbia. "And that's regardless of those who carry out acts of hate toward other groups."
Two of the three men charged with destroying and vandalizing the mosque pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court in Nashville, as the Islamic Center works to open its doors at 500 Carter St. in Columbia.
Michael Corey Golden, 23, and Jonathan Edward Stone, 19, admitted to breaking into the Islamic Center of Columbia, 1317 S. Main St., assembling Molotov cocktails and igniting them, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The two men also admitted to burning the mosque because of its religious character, the Department of Justice stated. Spray-painted on the walls outside the mosque were several Nazi swastikas and the phrases "white power" and "We run the world." (MORE)
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NJ: MUSLIMS AND JEWS PACK RUTGERS DIALOGUE EVENT - TOPStudents share views on dating and diets, find common groundDebra Rubin, New Jersey Jewish News, 11/6/09
In what both sides hope will be the first of many interfaith encounters, Muslims and Jews at Rutgers University packed a student lounge in New Brunswick to discuss how they view dating, religious holidays, and food prohibitions.
At the Oct. 30 program, arranged by Rutgers Hillel and the Muslim Student Association, there were male students in yarmulkes and female students wearing hijabs, the traditional Muslim head scarves.
As students sat in same-sex circles of about 10, they discussed questions from a preprinted sheet that included the differences — and similarities — between kosher and halal dietary laws and the faiths’ respective Sabbath prohibitions. Jewish students cleared up confusion over the different denominations of Judaism and their different beliefs. (MORE)
-----NY: MUSLIM PLACE OF REFUGE PLANNED - TOPGroup hopes to offer faith-based aid to former inmatesMarc Parry, Albany Times-Union, 11/5/08
Amin Abdullah spreads the inmates' letters over his mosque's green rug.The authors are imprisoned in Clinton. Fishkill. Marcy. Abdullah reads aloud from one who writes of "a problem with addiction."
"I will be homeless once I am released," he says. "So I am begging and pleading for your help."
Help may be coming. A group of Muslims is trying to aid inmates like him with a new faith-based Islamic shelter and treatment program. They say the facility, called House of Forgiveness, would be the first of its kind in the region.
If the Albany project succeeds, it would plug a social service gap that local Islamic leaders have talked about filling for decades. (MORE)
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BOTCHED US BOMBING KILLS 40 AT AFGHAN WEDDING PARTY - TOPTom Coghlan, Times Online, 11/5/08
American troops responding to an attack by Taleban forces have bombed a wedding party in southern Afghanistan, killing around 40 civilians, local people and government officials said today.
US officials confirmed last night that an incident is under joint investigation by the US military and Afghan government. "We are taking this very seriously. We are extremely sorry if there have been civilian casualties sustained during this operation," US army spokesman Colonel Greg Julian told The Times. "It is the worst possible outcome if civilians are harmed as a result of our trying to defend them." (MORE)