Interfaith appointments and disappointments - Media monitoring

• Interfaith disappointments by Mike Ghouse (Foundation for Pluralism) --Extract "The biggest disappointment in the interfaith world comes when your friends, who are usually rational in their approach to say this with ease, “These acts of terrorism are done in the name of Islam. I do not think the others were done in the name of Christianity etc. With the exception of Islam, other Religions variable accepts responsibility for the actions of their followers.”
• Why the 'Interfaith Movement' Must Rebrand Rev. Donald Heckman TheHuffingtonPost.com
• Excluded by the Inclusion Cops, By  Mark Steyn (National Review Online) -- As some readers will know, I’ve fought a long battle in Canada to restore freedom of speech to a country that should never have allowed itself to lose it.
• Can interfaith dialogue cure religious violence?  -- Four questions worth raising in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, By Lucia Hulsether, Salon. Extract: "1. What other dynamics of power move out of focus when celebrations of “interfaith cooperation” are brought to the fore?; 2. Does this appeal to “interfaith” trade in binaries?; 3. Is this interfaith project also an implicit nation-building project, and do I support it?; 4. What is the goal of this appeal to interfaith cooperation? Do I support it?"
• $5 million gift from McGill alumni strengthens interfaith scholarship, McGill Reporter
• Scottish Church to debate Jewish right to land of Israel, By Marcus Dysch, The Jewish Chronicle
• ‘Jesus Prayers’ in Legislature Upset Florida’s Jewish Delegates: Can prayer in the name of Jesus be all inclusive just like a rabbi’s prayer? Jewish legislators in Florida say they don’t like being “JCd." Maybe they should get back at them with a few shofar blasts. By: Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu The Jewish Press
• 3 Reasons Interfaith Efforts Matter More Than Ever, Eboo Patel, huffingtonpost.com --Extract: "1. Interfaith helps harmonize people's various identities; 2. Interfaith efforts help us to separate the worst elements of communities from the rest; 3. Interfaith efforts remind us America is about welcoming the contributions of all communities and nurturing cooperation between them." 
• A letter to the Spiritual But Not Religious (SBNR) @ Associated Baptist Press News
  "You are Spiritual But Not Religious (SBNR) and most of us talking about you all the time are Spiritual And Also Religious....  Instead of spending so much energy trying to repackage religion for the religious “nones,” maybe churches should focus on being faithful to God."
• Muslim students meet Baptist hospitality: A Virginia Baptist pastor describes his church's opportunity to host Muslim students for a spring break service project a "Kingdom moment."
  By Barbara Francis (Associated Baptist Press News)
• Facebook row head teacher should resign, say Leicester school staff
  Staff at a Leicester school are calling for a head teacher who made "inappropriate" Facebook comments to resign. Tim Luckcock, head at Uplands Junior School, posted a profile picture of himself wearing a turban and commented: "Nearly gone native in Leicester!!" BBC News
• Muslim cleric refuses to attend inter-faith conference because Jews will attend, By Agence France-Presse -- Extract: "Influential  Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi boycotted an inter-faith dialogue conference that opened in Doha on Tuesday, rejecting to sit in the meeting also attended by Jewish representatives, a local daily reported.
   “I decided not to participate so I wouldn’t sit at the same platform alongside Jews who still violate Palestine and destroy mosques and as long as the Palestinian issue has not been resolved,” Qaradawi told the Al-Arab daily of Qatar.
• The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Multi-Faith Clergy Council and the Church of Scientology International Host Character Education Training for Clergy