Feds Tell Tenn. Officials To Protect Muslims' Building Rights

By Whitney Jones
Religions News Service

WASHINGTON (RNS) Islam is a valid religion that is entitled to constitutional protection, said a U.S. attorney who stepped into a debate about a proposed mosque and Islamic center in Tennessee.

"To suggest that Islam is not a religion is quite simply ridiculous," said U.S. Attorney Jerry Martin of Nashville in a statement Monday (Oct. 18). "Each branch of the federal government has independently recognized Islam as one of the major religions of the world."

Martin's statement comes after a group of landowners in Murfreesboro, Tenn., filed suit to stop construction of a 52,000-square-foot mosque and Muslim community center in Rutherford County.

Opponents questioned Islam's validity as a religion that's entitled to First Amendment protection. They also claimed county officials did not inform the public in advance of the county commission meeting where the plans for the center were approved.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a brief in the lawsuit warning Rutherford County officials that refusing to recognize Islam as a religion and denying Muslims religious land use rights would violate civil rights laws.

"A mosque is quite plainly a place of worship, and the county rightly recognized that it had an obligation to treat mosques the same as churches, synagogues or any other religious assemblies," said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for civil rights, in a statement from
the Department of Justice.

Federal officials are continuing an arson investigation at the site of the proposed Islamic center after construction equipment was set ablaze in August.

Comments

[jayrag123]

08:47 PM on 10/20/2010

Wasn't too long ago that Southerners were denying Blacks the right to vote, use the public bathroom, eat with whites, stay in hotels, etc. Now you have Southern Christians and Racists joining forces to deny Muslims a place to worship....................AmeriKKKa

[carcol]

08:38 PM on 10/20/2010

Off topic: your neighbor Canada and in Calgary(cowtown,Oiltown) just elected a muslim as their mayor.

[MoreDimensions]

09:11 PM on 10/20/2010

The conservative part of Canada.

[Satish Dass]

03:00 AM on 11/05/2010

That's because Canada is being overcrowded with Pakistanis and Arabs.

[fldemgirls]

07:40 PM on 10/20/2010

Too bad that flag totin patriot ain't wearin camoflauge--then we wouldn't even see him.
Lord, PLEASE deliver us from your followers!!!!

[been2there]

08:55 PM on 10/20/2010

The bigots are not the Lord's followers. They are following the false prophets of jingoism, racism, fear, and ignorance.

[Checquoline]

07:32 PM on 10/20/2010

Oh Tennessee...why didn't the South win the war so we would be rid of you?

[jerryfromcalifornia]

07:07 PM on 10/20/2010

Southerners are a blight on this Country. They should secede from the union.

[jerryfromcalifornia]

07:00 PM on 10/20/2010

But, But, But its too close to the 9,11 site.

[Deucejack]

06:25 PM on 10/20/2010

Another member of the "religion of peace" gets 30 years for aiding and abetting terrorism.

No problem whatsoever with the religion and how it's spread.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/20/us.south.park.terror.threat/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn

[been2there]

08:57 PM on 10/20/2010

Christians also commit crimes--numerically, far more than Muslims in this country. The point is that while some religious doctrines can enable criminal behavior, it is the criminals who commit the crime!
BTW, plenty of "Christian" churches actively aid and abet domestic and sexual violence, and that is also terrorism.

[PartyOfMaybe]

05:32 PM on 10/20/2010

Mind your own business, Feds.

[jerryfromcalifornia]

07:11 PM on 10/20/2010

This is there business.

[Hillbilly49]

03:30 PM on 10/20/2010

Faux News has fomented this hatred and fear of Muslims and now a few of their unhinged viewers are acting out this nonsense. Faux News has been able to bring McCarthyism to a whole new and hideous level. Right wing extremist politicians have even been saying that Muslims are setting up their religious laws in place of American law. All of these lies were manufactured on Faux News or right wing hate radio.

[Kyrillos Wickenberg]

01:48 PM on 10/20/2010

Islam will not rest until the Star and Crescent is flying over the whitehouse. Already the president and the liberal radical congress is pro islam.

[whiskeytangofoxtrot451]

02:17 PM on 10/20/2010

Take your meds, Glenn.

[olmossy]

02:18 PM on 10/20/2010

There's not a Cross flying over the WH now is there ?

[Nick Santiago]

12:36 PM on 10/20/2010

"Opponents questioned Islam's validity as a religion that's entitled to First Amendment protection."

That has got to be the most bigoted and ignorant thing I have heard yet coming from the religious right. What is even scarier is that they likely believe every word of it!. This in a country that recognizes the Church of Satan, Scientology, and various other strange ideas of religion.

Apparently they want freedom of Christianity in America, not freedom of religion. Numbskulls!

[LastTexasRose]

12:52 PM on 10/20/2010

I really wish those people would read the Constitiution and the Amendments before opening their big mouths and proving they don't have a clue

[schnauzergirl]

12:57 PM on 10/20/2010

There seem to be a lot of poeple out there that could use the same advice

[whiskeytangofoxtrot451]

02:22 PM on 10/20/2010

It's funny how they have such a reverence and fetish for documents most of them have never read and clearly don't understand, whether it's the Constitution or the Bible.

[LintLass]

01:04 PM on 10/20/2010

The Christian Right is attempting to redefine our religious freedom: they've been trying to exclude everyone else for many years. I admit I don't have much sympathy for some minorities who'd do the same if the positions were reversed, but this really shouldn't be hard. We have religious freedom, here in America. We pray and/or practice when, if, how, and to Whom we please, as long as it doesn't tread on the rights of others.

That's America. Anything else... Is not America.

[chipchuck]

12:30 PM on 10/20/2010

The photo attached to this article is so very telling. The man holds tight his flag as to assert that whenever one carries the banner his motive is surely best and fitting for his country. He lords over the lady in effort to prove he that yells loudest is right, but overlooked is the beautiful idea written on humble cardboard, "Love one another."

It really sickens me when people disrespect symbols of America. This man has no idea what patriotism is nor what people have fought and died for. To him, I say, "Your America does not exist, it never has, and for heaven's sake I hope it never will."

[DrSnuggles]

02:15 PM on 10/20/2010

Apparently he thinks 'loudest is right' appliesto his shirt too...

[emmanuel goldstein]

03:39 PM on 10/20/2010

And what's up with 'the claw'?

[US American]

05:19 PM on 10/20/2010

lol i was thinking the same thing

[Ahmed Ahmad]

12:11 PM on 10/20/2010

Can someone please tell me if Buddhism is more peaceful than islam?

Thank you.

[LintLass]

12:35 PM on 10/20/2010

Not relevant, but, yes. If we're talking about the isms in an abstract sense.

[LintLass]

12:57 PM on 10/20/2010

Interesting question, though: what constitutes a 'peaceful religion,' ...one that *commands 'peace' through everyone kneeling, by force if necessary,* or, one that claims peacefulness and compassion is itself the path?

How about like Wicca, a branch of Pagan religion that has Gods that even teach about war or warfare, doesn't 'command,' pacifism, but says that even harmful intent is to be avoided, except in self defense?

'Religions of peace,' self-called, generally seem to be the ones based on a premise that people must be *pacified,* and that there's such a thing as a 'holy war.' I don't happen to hold to that view.

In mine, peace is a means, not something that 'comes at the end after everyone's subdued.'

[Tommy Garrett]

12:09 PM on 10/20/2010

This not a Christian nation nor is it a Muslim nation. This is a FREE nation.

[olmossy]

01:54 PM on 10/20/2010

Could it be FREE, if it were one or the other ?

[whiskeytangofoxtrot451]

02:26 PM on 10/20/2010

No. Theocracies are by the very definition not free.

[gemini68]

10:18 AM on 10/20/2010

While I am glad that the Federal court took a stand against this bigotry, as Muslim American woman I can't help but be completely disgusted that this would have to be "confirmed" in the first place. There are 1.6 BILLION Muslim in this world. Its ridiculous to me how uneducated people are about not only Islam but their own religions as well. And the sad part is that they don't actually care to learn. Willful ignorance is the status quo now. And it is to the detriment of us all- this unwillingness to UNDERSTAND.

[mammon55]

10:27 AM on 10/20/2010

ya i dont get it either, i lean more to the teachings of Jesus but, that a major religion had to show its validity to build their house of worship in this country is insulting. Plus it is not like Islam is some out of the way new age religion (over 1.6 billion served) should be a no brainer. But not all Christians are nut jobs. I for one support the building of worship for any faith, and as little government intrusion as possible.

[perazziman]

10:45 AM on 10/20/2010

65% of Americans admit they know nothing of Islam. 50% state they dont personally know any Muslims. This may seem shocking, but most Muslims in Muslim countries would never read the Bible either. In Saudi Arabia it is illegal to have one.

[schnauzergirl]

01:07 PM on 10/20/2010

Why does everyone keep using the Saudi comparison? Just because the most restrictive country in the world does something, its ok to do it here too. That goes so against what the US was founded on.

[perazziman]

02:13 PM on 10/20/2010

Show me one Imam who has asked his congregation to read the Bible to understand Jews and Christians.