Judge to Tennessee: Allow Muslims Access to Mosque

U.S. District Court Judge Todd Campbell has signed an emergency order allowing Tennessee Muslims to worship in a new mosque just in time for the start of  Ramadan, overturning a hate-fueled effort by some local residents to shut down the mosque.

The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro has existed for more than a decade, but legal wrangling began in earnest when the ICM received approval from the local commissioners to build an expanded mosque. 

During construction, which began with proper approvals, the site was vandalized multiple times, including an arson attack in 2010.  A bomb threat to the center was called in to the center on the eve of the 10^th anniversary of the terror attacks on New York and Washington.  "Not welcome" was spray-painted by vandals on a sign announcing the construction of the project.

 In a move that barely hid their own xenophobia, four county residents filed suit to block the mosque in September 2010, arguing it posed a "risk of terrorism generated by proselytizing for Islam and inciting the practices of Sharia law." They also demanded the judge bar any approval until the Islamic center showed that it was not interested in "the overthrow of the American system of government, laws and freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution."  An anti-Muslim website, "Jihad Watch," fanned the flames of opposition by calling the proposal a "mega-mosque," in spite of the existence of an equally-sized church next door (see top picture above).

Those lawsuits were quickly dismissed by courts.

Opponents succeeded, however, in convincing the local chancery court that their due process rights were violated because of improper public notice given for the project.   In May, the chancery court overturned the county's approval of the mosque construction, and, last week, further ordered the county not to issue an occupancy permit for the 12,000-square-foot building, based on the county’s failure to provide adequate public notice of its meeting.

The ICM then sued Rutherford County on Wednesday, asking U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell for an emergency order to let worshippers into the building before the holy month of Ramadan starts at sundown Thursday. They were joined by Federal prosecutors, who also filed a similar lawsuit.

The Justice Department accused Rutherford County of violating the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 by holding the mosque to a different standard than other religious institutions built in the county. The Islamic Center argued that it was being unconstitutionally blocked "merely because local anti-Islamic protests have made the mosque controversial.”

This is a victory for the First Amendment, and the Tennessee residents who supported these actions should be ashamed of themselves for their patently un-American behavior.

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The Statesman in the Storm: NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg

"On Sept. 11, 2001, thousands of first responders heroically rushed to the scene and saved tens of thousands of lives. More than 400 of those first responders did not make it out alive. In rushing into those burning buildings, not one of them asked, 'What God do you pray to?' (Bloomberg's voice cracks here a little as he gets choked up.) 'What beliefs do you hold?'

"The attack was an act of war, and our first responders defended not only our city, but our country and our constitution. We do not honor their lives by denying the very constitutional rights they died protecting. We honor their lives by defending those rights and the freedoms that the terrorists attacked.

"Of course, it is fair to ask the organizers of the mosque to show some special sensitivity to the situation, and in fact their plan envisions reaching beyond their walls and building an interfaith community. But doing so, it is my hope that the mosque will help to bring our city even closer together, and help repudiate the false and repugnant idea that the attacks of 9/11 were in any ways consistent with Islam.

"Muslims are as much a part of our city and our country as the people of any faith. And they are as welcome to worship in lower Manhattan as any other group. In fact, they have been worshipping at the site for better, the better part of a year, as is their right. The local community board in lower Manhattan voted overwhelmingly to support the proposal. And if it moves forward, I expect the community center and mosque will add to the life and vitality of the neighborhood and the entire city.

"Political controversies come and go, but our values and our traditions endure, and there is no neighborhood in this city that is off-limits to God's love and mercy, as the religious leaders here with us can attest."