Excerpt:
Massachusetts treasurer and independent candidate for governor Tim Cahill was off base when he accused incumbent governor Deval Patrick of "playing politics with terrorism" in the wake of Patrick's visit to the controversial Roxbury mosque maintained by the Islamic Society of Boston.
It is the Phoenix's view that Cahill would have been closer to the mark if he had suggested that the governor was compromising his long-standing support for gay and lesbian rights, as well as his commitment to equal opportunity for women, by meeting with an imam dedicated to the international spread of Sharia law, the letter of which holds that homosexuals should be executed and women subject to discipline by their husbands.
The Muslim leader in question, Imam Abdullah Faaruuq, a native-born American who studied at the University of Massachusetts, is more moderate than previous leaders associated with the Roxbury mosque. And this is a good thing.
But Faaruuq's moderation is relative. He is not exactly the sort of religious leader likely to be active in AIDS Action or working for marriage equality.