After years of legal battles, the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge has finally received permission to build a mosque in the small New Jersey suburb, along with a 3.25-million-dollar settlement from the Bernards Township.
According to the Justice Department, the township used coding regulations to unfairly discriminate against the society, similar to the cases that led to Yick Wo v. Hopkins, an 1886 Supreme Court case dealing with discrimination against Chinese laundry businesses. There was initial push back to the mosque being built from members of the community, despite the society having no connections to radical groups.
The society has, in fact, been heavily involved in interfaith activities in its community and around its state. Members of the society were also present at the Memorial Day parade, showing their patriotism by waving American flags.
The society is so harmless and does enough good in the community to the point that many other religious groups, including the National Association of Evangelicals and the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, signed on to an amicus brief condemning the actions of the town against the mosque.
While this particular case is a victory for religious liberty and against an overly bureaucratic government, two other current cases relating to the treatment of Muslims are almost laughable. A Michigan Muslim has filed a 100-million-dollar lawsuit against Little Caesar’s Pizza because he ordered a pepperoni pizza that contained pork, because he did not take his own precautions when ordering the pizza.
“Clock Boy”, Ahmed Mohammed, has also been back in the news recently, after a discrimination case against his school board was thrown out after no evidence of discrimination was found.