Modbert
Daydream Believer
- Sep 2, 2008
- 33,178
- 3,055
- 48
http://www.justice.gov/crt/housing/rluipaexplain.php
Click on the link for the whole law. Who passed this law? Why the Republican Congress in 2000!
Mosque at ground zero: Is it illegal to deny request? - Lynn Sweet
The land use provisions of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000cc, et seq., protect individuals, houses of worship, and other religious institutions from discrimination in zoning and landmarking laws (for information on RLUIPA's institutionalized persons provisions, please refer to the Civil Rights Division's Special Litigation Section ).
In passing this law, Congress found that the right to assemble for worship is at the very core of the free exercise of religion. Religious assemblies cannot function without a physical space adequate to their needs and consistent with their theological requirements. The right to build, buy, or rent such a space is an indispensable adjunct of the core First Amendment right to assemble for religious purposes. Religious assemblies, especially, new, small, or unfamiliar ones, may be illegally discriminated against on the face of zoning codes and also in the highly individualized and discretionary processes of land use regulation. Zoning codes and landmarking laws may illegally exclude religious assemblies in places where they permit theaters, meeting halls, and other places where large groups of people assemble for secular purposes. Or the zoning codes or landmarking laws may permit religious assemblies only with individualized permission from the zoning board or landmarking commission, and zoning boards or landmarking commission may use that authority in illegally discriminatory ways.
Click on the link for the whole law. Who passed this law? Why the Republican Congress in 2000!
Mosque at ground zero: Is it illegal to deny request? - Lynn Sweet
"Lost in all the political demagoguery about the proposed Muslim mosque and cultural center blocks from Ground Zero is the fact that denying zoning approval would violate one of the Republicans' favorite pieces of federal law, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA).
"Sponsored by Senator Orin Hatch and passed unanimously by both houses of Congress in July 2000, this law clearly states "No government shall impose or implement a land use regulation that discriminates against any assembly or institution on the basis of religion or religious denomination." [emphasis added]
"The only reason anybody opposes this center is that it is Muslim -- a religious denomination. As a long-time zoning attorney and city planner, it's extremely clear to me that denial would be a blatant violation of this federal law that these same Republicans wrote and unanimously supported ten years ago.
If the City of New York denies the zoning approval sought for this site, it will blatantly violate RLUIPA and expose the city to one whopping lawsuit that is extremely likely to succeed.