Excerpt:
Calls from some legislators to ban American Muslims from following Islamic law are born of a "bogeyman fear" that Muslims will try to impose their way of life on others of different faiths, an imam and author of books on Islam said Sunday at Congregation Beth El in Voorhees.
"It's illogical. It's a fear tactic. It's stupid," Imam Sohaib Sultan told more than 100 people who attended "Islamic Sharia Law: Myths and Facts," an interfaith event hosted by Jewish Catholic Muslim Dialogue of Southern New Jersey.
Organizers said they hoped to address prevailing misconceptions of sharia law, the code guiding the beliefs and actions of Muslims that some politicians have targeted in recent years. Bills to ban the application of foreign law have been proposed throughout the country, including Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and have passed in several states. In 2011, lawmakers in Tennessee proposed making it a felony to follow some versions of sharia.