Source: The Boston Globe

On October 8, 2004 The Boston Globe reported, "the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) lashed out at the news media yesterday for 'trying to instill fear and hostility' toward the group and denied any links to terrorists or Muslim extremism. In an unsigned written statement, society leaders said they 'believe the new conflagration of negative media attention given to the ISB is not the result of honest, diligent journalism, but of malicious intent to discredit our organization and the new Cultural Center in Boston.' It is the first...

Source: The Boston Globe

On October 7, 2004 The Boston Globe reported, "the Anti-Defamation League and Jewish leaders yesterday asked the Islamic Society of Boston to renounce one of its board members, whose writings they say are 'virulently anti-Semitic.' As Boston officials planned to re-examine details of its sale of land to the Islamic Society amid questions about the group's connections to extremists, the ADL and Temple Israel, the largest synagogue in Boston, made public for the first time a seven-month-long dispute with Islamic Society's leaders over...

Source: The Boston Globe

On October 5, 2004 The Boston Globe reported that, "a group opposing the Islamic Society of Boston's proposed $22 million mosque in Roxbury yesterday launched a website citing published allegations that the society is linked to terrorists and accusing it of teaching a radical Islamic message. Organizers of the website, sponsored by a group calling itself Citizens for Peace and Tolerance, planned to hold a news conference today to announce efforts to 'break the silence' surrounding the Islamic Society's Cultural Center project under...

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/10/05/groups_website_challenges_mosque/

On October 5, 2004 The Boston Globe reported, "a group opposing the Islamic Society of Boston's proposed $22 million mosque in Roxbury yesterday launched a website citing published allegations that the society is linked to terrorists and accusing it of teaching a radical Islamic message. Organizers...

Source: The Boston Herald

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid=2500

On March 8, 2004 The Boston Herald reported in the second of a two part series, that "one of the Muslim leaders behind the new mosque planned for Roxbury has written a series of anti-Jewish articles in Arabic, including one in which he condemns Jews as the people who 'killed prophets.' Dr. Walid Ahmad Fitaihi, a longtime director of the Islamic Society of Boston...

Source: Boston Herald

Source: The Boston Globe

On October 26, 2002 The Boston Globe reported that "last week, the Cambridge Center for Adult Education devoted its second annual conference on African ritual and art to the role of ancestors. The conference 'focused on seeing how the traditions from Africa, transplanted in the Western Hemisphere... still have influence,' says Cambridge Center spokesman Jim Smith... Dragged from Africa during slavery, the Yoruba brought religious beliefs that couldn't be suffocated... The Yoruba believe in a supreme god and mo...

Source: The Boston Globe

On October 26, 2002 The Boston Globe reported that "Tony Van Der Meer was raised a Baptist, but years ago, friends introduced him to the religion of the Yoruba people of Nigeria. The Yoruba revere family and ancestors. Van Der Meer, 48, an African studies professor at the University of Massachusetts at Boston, says he saw a powerful demonstration of his new faith a decade ago involving his father, a man he barely knew. The Yoruba believe in a supreme god and more than 400 lesser divinities, called orishas, each with its...

Source: The Boston Herald

On September 25, 2002 The Boston Herald reported that "the number of hate crimes in Massachusetts rose dramatically in the year of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, largely as a result of a backlash against Muslims and Arabs, according to a new state report. A total of 576 incidents were reported in 2001, up 24 percent from the 463 reported in 2000, according to the Governor's Task Force on Hate Crimes. Among them were 133 crimes motivated by religious bias, a 43 percent increase over the previous year's...