Federal investigation opened after city votes down mosque

DOJ Probes Bias Over NJ Mosque Plan Rejection
DOJ Probes Bias Over NJ Mosque Plan Rejection
Author

03 June, 2017

The agreement between Bernards Township, which is located about 30 miles (48 km) west of New York City, and the U.S. Department of Justice will allow the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge to build a new prayer facility.

On Tuesday, Matthew Reilly, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey, confirmed to WNYC News that the office is investigating an issue concerning a local Muslim group receiving the proper permits to build a mosque.

Some opponents yelled at Muslims to "go back to where you're from", while one urged the board to evaluate Muslims' beliefs because some passages in the Quran direct them to kill, according to court papers.

It also asserts the zoning board was influenced by "anti-Muslim community animus".

The settlement between the Department of Justice and Bernards Township, New Jersey is one of almost 20 lawsuits the department has brought under the provisions of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a federal law partly created to protect minority houses of worship and start-up churches against discrimination by local authorities.

The board voted 4-3 in favor of the application, but the variance failed to pass because it needed a super majority of five votes.

Bayonne Muslims argues in court papers that despite four out of seven zoning board members voting to approve its application, the body ultimately barred the group from converting a former factory and warehouse it had purchased into a mosque.

A rendering of the proposed mosque in Bayonne.

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Meanwhile, another New Jersey town has recently agreed to settle two federal religious discrimination lawsuits.

The Department of Justice on Tuesday unveiled a settlement between a different New Jersey town that requires it to allow a mosque to be built after a similar zoning dispute.

Through a spokesman, the township committee denied discriminating against the Islamic Society and maintained the denial of the group's proposal was "based on accepted land use criteria only".

The Justice Department filed its own federal lawsuit against Bernards Township in November, arguing that it violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, known as RLUIPA. "Bernards Township made decisions that treated the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge differently than other houses of worship". The law firm, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler - which is also representing the Bayonne Muslims in their suit - will donate all attorney fees to charity, according to Adeel Mangi, lead counsel for the case.

Bernards Township is a "diverse and inclusive community", he said, noting the town elected Chaudry as the nation's first Pakistani Muslim mayor after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Central to the town's argument against the building of the mosque was parking.

Bayonne Muslims filed a federal lawsuit against the city on May 25, alleging anti-Muslim bias and that the city denied a variance that it had granted in the past for Christian churches.


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