Muslim group buys church but can't get permit to pray

[TexasTowelie]

When is an old church no longer a suitable place for Americans to come together to pray?

In the southwest suburban village of Plainfield, the answer seems to be: when Muslims want to do the praying.

In about as clear-cut a case of religious discrimination as you’re going to find, the Plainfield village board this past week denied a zoning permit to a Muslim group that purchased a former Christian church building with plans of using it as a mosque.

Naturally, opponents have dressed up their intolerance with the usual NIMBY excuses about traffic and parking. They’re not fools.

Read more: http://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-politics/brown-muslim-group-buys-church-but-cant-get-permit-to-pray/

[BobTheSubgenius]

1. In a more general sense,

this kind of selfish meanness is everywhere, although not usually so brazen and appalling. Near where I live, there is a totally charming bunch of islands called The Gulf Islands...some of which become the San Juans when you cross the 49th. There is something called The Gulf Islands Trust, which is mainly about shutting the door behind you when you arrive.

"OK, I'm here. I want nothing to change from this point on."

It's gone from NIMBY to BANANA - Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone.

[aeromanKC]

2. Park at other Town churches

And walk en mass to their Church. Every day. Every week.

[Wile E. Coli]

3. IANAL, but...

This strikes me as not just being religious discrimination, but an open-and-shut case of the government prohibiting the free exercise of one's religion. Is a church really subject to zoning regulations???

[Jim Lane]

11. Churches are indeed subject to zoning regulations -- mostly.

If the zoning ordinance restricts a particular part of town to residential use only, and it's applied uniformly to include all religious institutions, and if there's enough land elsewhere where a church/synagogue/temple/mosque/ashram can be built, then the religious institutions are subject to it and it's not a violation of the Free Exercise Clause.

Considerations of the Constitution (and, more pragmatically, the political power of churches) do, however, impose some constraints that don't benefit nonreligious uses. There's a federal statute,
the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, that can be used to challenge some zoning exclusions as applied to religious uses.

[Orrex]

4. Something similar happening in my town

http://www.wfmj.com/story/35754320/lawmaker-tries-to-stop-sale-of-shenango-property-to-islamic-company

I've been following this somewhat closely on the community pages of this Trump-voting, Conservative-flag-toting county, and people are absolutely losing their shit over this. The huge property has been vacant for years, and it's been purchased by an Islamic educational foundation.

Of course, residents insist that they're not objecting for reasons of bigotry; they just don't radical Muslims running a terrorist training camp a few miles down the road.

I asked how they'd feel if some fundamentalist Christian organization had bought the property, and they told me it's apples and orange.


But it's not bigotry, of course.

[Le Gaucher]

5. Closer to my house, there isc piece of land zoned for Worship

A few muslims bought the land to build a mosque but can't get permits.. They are being shot down on technica grounds like traffic etc.

[yuiyoshida]

6. Its only religious freedom if its Christian

Sorry Buddhism, islam, Hinduism, Judaism, and all the rest.

[Soxfan58]

7. The God Nazis

No pray for you!!!!!

[Ray Bruns]

8. Ah yes. the old parking and traffic excuse.

Funny it wasn't a problem when the Christians wanted to pray. This happened in Norfolk Va a few years back. But then it was Christians wanting to build a church on some vacant land. Unfortunately, the Christians weren't the correct color.

[alfredo]

9. Every Friday, Muslims should have a "picnic" in a local park.

[guillaumeb]

10. Similar things happened in Frankfort and Palos Hills,

two nearby Chicago suburbs. And of course the proposed "ground zero" mosque in New York.

It is amazing how these type of issues only happen to arise when the subject is a Muslim facility.