In Roxbury, a Call for Religious Tolerance

June 28, 2007

Author: David Abel

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/06/28/in_roxbury_a_call_for_religious_tolerance/

Rabbis came in yarmulkes, priests wore their Roman collars, and imams dressed in knitted caps and the loose-fitting gowns called thobes.

About 300 people, from Jews in sandals to suited Christians to Muslims in sequined veils, gathered beneath the arched brick entrance of the city's newest mosque yesterday to mark completion of the first stage of its construction.

They also prayed for tolerance in the wake of controversy and a lawsuit that has raised questions about who paid for the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center and how it obtained the land in Roxbury.

"This mosque is intended to be a place that opens its doors and provides opportunities for all religions and all different ethnicities and different communities to find a place of dialogue," said Bilal Kaleem, executive director of the Boston chapter of the Muslim American Society.