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(CNN) -- A federal judge ordered a Tennessee county to conduct a final inspection of a new mosque, clearing the way for worshippers to possibly begin using the building in time for the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Thursday.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Todd J. Campbell is the latest development in a two-year battle over the opening of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, near Nashville, that has been marked by legal challenges and anti-Muslim sentiment.
"If the building complies with applicable codes and regulations, the County shall issue, on or before July 19, 2012, the certificate of occupancy," Campbell wrote Wednesday in his order granting a temporary restraining order against the county.
Campbell's ruling effectively set aside a ruling by a county judge in June that reversed a planning commission's approval of the Islamic Center's expansion because of what he said was insufficient public notice.
Mosque ground breaking protest Attorneys for the county have said it followed the normal practice of publishing notice of the hearing in the local newspaper, but the judge said more should have been done because the mosque was "an issue of major importance to citizens."
The U.S. Justice Department and the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro filed separate lawsuits this week, arguing that Rutherford County officials violated federal laws when they denied requests for a final inspection and certificate of occupancy for the mosque.
The Justice Department is accusing Rutherford County of violating the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 by holding the mosque to a different standard than other religious institutions built in the county. The Islamic Center argued that it was being unconstitutionally blocked "merely because local anti-Islamic protests have made the mosque controversial."
The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro has existed for more than a decade, but the fight erupted in 2010 when planning commissioners approved an expansion project.
The construction site had been vandalized multiple times, including by an arson attack in 2010, and federal authorities have charged a Texas man with calling in a bomb threat to the center before last year's anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
"Not welcome" was spray-painted by vandals on a sign announcing the construction of the project.
Justice Department stands behind controversial mosque
Four county residents filed suit to block the mosque in September 2010, arguing it posed a "risk of terrorism generated by proselytizing for Islam and inciting the practices of Sharia law" and that planning commissioners violated their due process rights. They also demanded the judge bar any approval until the Islamic center showed that it was not interested in "the overthrow of the American system of government, laws and freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution."
Rutherford County Building Codes Director David Jones said Thursday final inspection of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro's new mosque remains "preliminary" and could be at least two weeks away. The ICM still has exterior work to do, including installation of septic facilities, and must obtain inspections and approval from entities such as the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, the state fire marshal and Consolidated Utility District, as well as a final inspection by county building codes, according to Jones.
The Wednesday ruling by U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell gave the mosque's leaders the right to complete its inspection process, thus reversing Rutherford County's June injunction, which contended that county officials did not adequately notify the public about the mosque's construction. Since mosque construction began in 2010, the building has been at the center of a dispute over whether the public was adequately notified about the site's construction. However, opponents made clear in court hearings that they also opposed the practice of Islam. Attorney Luke Goodrich with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represented the mosque in the suit, called the judge's ruling a victory for people of all faiths.
But opponents objected to what they called a lack of notice about Wednesday's court actions. Attorney Joe Brandon, who is representing a group of Rutherford County residents opposed to mosque construction but not involved in Wednesday's suit, said he's not surprised that the U.S. attorney got involved. "You don't throw a lawsuit like this together overnight," he said. "So, clearly, it's something they've been planning for some time." Brandon said Rutherford County residents were "circumvented." "We've been involved in this thing from day one, but I'm sure they'd rather have it with no opposition," Brandon said. Wednesday's decision affirmed that indeed proper public notice was granted, contrary to the chancery court decision, which submitted that the mosque should be subjected to "heightened legal standard" because of the "tremendous public interest" surrounding the mosque.
Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it was suing Rutherford County, claiming violations of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. "Our nation was founded on bedrock principles of religious liberty. The Department of Justice will continue to vigorously enforce civil rights laws that protect religious freedom," said Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, said in a media release. "When a faith community follows the rules, as the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro has done in seeking to construct its place of worship, it is impermissible to change the rules in a discriminatory way that prevents people of faith from exercising their fundamental right to worship." The act cited in the government's suit prohibits religious discrimination in land use and zoning decisions.
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The decision to allow or not allow this or any other type of business model within any given industry should be in the hands of people closer to the neighborhood of occupancy.
It should be a state or county decision, not federal. Same for porn shops & titty bars, casinos and other forms of controversial entertainment.
The decision to allow or not allow this or any other type of business model within any given industry should be in the hands of people closer to the neighborhood of occupancy.
It should be a state or county decision, not federal. Same for porn shops & titty bars, casinos and other forms of controversial entertainment.
So if my neighbors and I do not want green eyed red headed midget women opening a business near us they should be banned from doing so.
Maybe in Lah Lah land but not in America. We have Federal laws banning such discrimination and I am thankful we do.
