[…] The Government generally respected religious freedom in practice. There was no change in the status of respect for religious freedom by the Government during the period covered by this report. There is no state religion; however, the Roman Catholic Church enjoys some privileges, stemming from its sovereign status and its historical political authority, not available to other religious groups. The Catholic Church's influential role in society led to controversy when church teachings appeared to influence Catholic legislators on matters of public policy.

[…] At age 25, Imam Khalid Latif already has achieved important leadership responsibilities as chaplain and director of the Islamic Center at New York University and the Muslim chaplain for the New York Police Department. “The university and police department are obviously very different,” Latif said. “But they're also very similar, as American institutions with growing Muslim populations who are trying to find their way.”

[…] Muslims in the United States typically observe Ramadan and fulfill their other religious obligations with the encouragement and support of non-Muslim friends, colleagues and neighbors, say U.S. State Department officials Seema Matin and William Lawrence. “I have always found that my non-Muslim colleagues and friends are very supportive during this [holy] month of Ramadan.

[…] An openness to immigration and laws protecting religious freedom helped create the conditions for religious tolerance in the United States, says an expert on immigration, religion and urban issues in America who has researched a neighborhood in New York City he calls “perhaps the most extreme case of religious pluralism in the world.” That neighborhood is Flushing, Queens, which encompasses more than 200 places of religious worship within 6.5 square kilometers.

[…] Type “Bible podcast” into a search engine and you get more than 300,000 results -- that’s enough to download prerecorded verses from a new Web site every day for more than 800 years.
The abundance of these podcasts, coupled with tens of thousands of Quran podcasts and even Bhagavad-Gita downloads suggests that people are looking toward technology to facilitate their relationships with religion.

[…] For the past three years the Free Synagogue of Flushing, New York, has organized a choral concert. Community members gather to honor and enjoy their neighbors’ talents. But the audience doesn’t just hear Jewish music: Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews and Muslims share the stage. “It’s interesting when you hear the music of somebody else’s culture other than your own,” said a Flushing resident who attended the concert last year.

[…] For the past three years the Free Synagogue of Flushing, New York, has organized a choral concert. Community members gather to honor and enjoy their neighbors’ talents. But the audience doesn’t just hear Jewish music: Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews and Muslims share the stage. “It’s interesting when you hear the music of somebody else’s culture other than your own,” said a Flushing resident who attended the concert last year.

[…] On one block alone, the Kissena Jewish Center faces a Hindu temple, Shree Swaminarayan Mandir, which neighbors the Boon Church of Overseas Chinese Mission, which faces the Singh Sabha Sikh gurdwara. This block exemplifies the rest of Flushing, a neighborhood 16 kilometers east of Manhattan that compacts more than 200 places of religious worship into 6.5 square kilometers. Flushing is in Queens, one of the five boroughs that together make up New York City.

[…] The ancient, fragile document now lies protected in a glass case, its revolutionary, eloquent prose barely visible, its pages scorched. But the principle of religious freedom promoted by a small group of English settlers in the Flushing Remonstrance has survived the centuries.
Flushing is a neighborhood in Queens -- one of the five boroughs that collectively make up New York City -- and is located about 16 kilometers east of Manhattan, New York.