Back in 2000, Congress passed – and Bill Clinton signed – the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. RLUIPA, as it’s called, was conceived to protect the rights of all faiths to build houses of worship, particularly when pesky neighbors used zoning as a backdoor way of keeping out religious expression. Its so much easier to pretend that one only cares deeply about property setbacks on the character of the community than it is to admit that one doesn’t want a Hindu Temple, or a Pentacostal Church, or the Crystal Cathedral. Protecting religious liberty is a tricky thing, but Madison’s words that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” seems pretty clear to me. And with RLUIPA, intent to deny the free exercise of religion through unrelated technical land use issues is construed as the same as denial.
Park51, Cordoba House, Ground Zero Mosque, whatever one wants to call it, is a project under attack for a lot of things. Opponents consider it to be “insensitive” because of its location as a Muslim house of worship near a place where 19 Muslims killed 3000 people. Others consider it to be a potential “terrorist headquarters”, proof currently lacking but conjecture rife. A few have even decided that Islam, a faith followed by 1 billion people, is somehow a cult or lifestyle and not eligible to be protected as a religion under our Constitution.
The opposition to this facility could certainly be heartfelt, true and determined. And to that, I am truly sorry for their feelings. However, this opposition manifests itself as just like the citizen attacking the design of the Kingdom Hall, or the insufficient parking for the Hasidic Community Center, or the minaret of the Mosque for fear it will destroy the fabric of the community. In teir minds, what is being destroyed, the architectural fabric of the community or the entry of other to the social fabric of the community.
The reality is that these objections do not matter. Free exercise of religion makes America greater than any other nation in the world because the intent is as important as the words. If the intent of the opponents to the facility in New York is to deny the presence of Islam, and the right of adherents of that faith to worship where they choose, then nothing else matters. They have the right, and as Americans we must protect our Constitution by ensuring that they can do so.
