Breitbart is reporting that the Justice Department has announced it is suing the town of St. Anthony, Minnesota, over the town’s denial of a permit to create an Islamic cultural center, claiming the denial broke a federal law when the center’s application was rejected in 2012.
“An injustice has been done,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said on August 27. “I will not stand by while any religious group is subject to unconstitutional treatment that violates federal civil rights laws.”
The DOJ claims that the city violated the law when it refused the Abu Huraira Islamic Center the right to create an Islamic cultural center in the basement of the St. Anthony Business Center. The DOJ cites a violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act that was enacted in the year 2000.
But the city fathers insist that the decision to deny the permit is based solely on zoning issues and had nothing to do with religion.
“Religious uses of any type are allowed in the vast majority of the city,” City Attorney Jay Lindgren said. “They are just not allowed in the roughly 5 percent of the city reserved for industrial uses. … An industrial zone is designed to create jobs and be an economic engine.”
To buttress its case, the DOJ claimed that there were examples in the past of the city allowing some religious groups to use the zoned areas and also allowing non-industrial uses. But Lindgren said that the city has denied permits to religious sects other than Muslims in the past, proving, he said, that the town isn’t discriminating against Muslims.
“The city will vigorously defend its actions,” Lindgren insisted this week. “Doesn’t matter whether it’s a mosque, synagogue, church–none are allowed in the area intended for manufacturing and offices where jobs are put into place.”
Minnesota’s Star Tribune also reported the story and had another bit of information that Breitbart omitted.
Luger noted that the Abu Huraira Islamic Center was formed by a number of Minnesota Somali-American community leaders who conducted an “exhaustive search to accommodate” the state’s growing Somali population. “Many members were unable to practice their religion with others from the community because there was not an appropriate location for communal worship,” he said.
From 2009 to 2011, he said, the organization offered to buy at least two other locations but was turned down. In 2011, they found the “ideal space” at the St. Anthony Business Center.
The Somali population in Minnesota has been in the news in recent weeks for something else as well.
Fox News – As many as 15 Somali-American men have left their homes in Minnesota in recent months to travel to the Middle East and join up with ISIS, the jihadist army at war with Syria and Iraq, according to Minnesota Public Radio.
The fighters appear to have made the decision to go fight with Islamic State of Iraq and Syria/Levant while the terror group was fighting to overthrow Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, but some may now be in Iraq, where the marauding group is seeking to topple Baghdad.
Among Minnesota’s thriving Somali community, Muhumed’s transformation from ordinary life in Minneapolis to Middle East jihadist is evidence of a strong recruitment and radicalization effort.
The New York Daily News has more to the aspect of ISIS recruiting Somali-Americans.
Minnesota has a large Somali population. Abdi Bihi, a leader in the local Somali community, told the TV station that ISIS has approached men in the Twin Cities for recruitment. Recently, the terrorist group has targeted women, too.
“They are brainwashing them to marry them off to jihadists,” he said. “They call them to help out as nurses, help out the wounded — but the real catch is they will be sexually exploited.”
So it seems the U.S. Department of Justice is suing a town on behalf of Somali Islamists who have already sent at many as fifteen men to the Middle East to join up with ISIS.
And I also cannot help but wonder, if the town of St. Anthony had denied an application from a Christian church, would the Justice Department be filing a lawsuit on their behalf? I think not.
Concerning the question at the end of your post, I have no doubt that a Christian church would not be seeing help from the DOJ, were it in the same position as the Islamic group. They would be told they were on their own and to stop practicing their faith in such a public manner.
Exactly. If the DOJ did anything at all they’d sue the church on behalf of the city.