Unwelcome: The Muslim Next Door

There was a documentary on CNN last night called Unwelcome: The Muslim Next Door. It’s about the attempt to build a Mosque in Murfreesboro, TN and the reaction of the residents there.

Now I’ll concede upfront that there’s something of a bias in the story. I don’t know that it’s a lot, though, because most of the people opposing the action didn’t need any help in looking foolish.

The reality is that this is a simple zoning and planning issue. The congregation bought 15 acres of property on the edge of town and want to build a complex that is very much like many other churches. It’ll have a community center, a gym, a pool, and a sanctuary. All told, it’ll be about 53,000 square feet – a mere pittance compared to some of the mega-churches found in even moderately sized communities.

A local real estate developer and her husband are funding the bulk of the opposition. Neither did themselves any favors on camera, coming across as racist bigots.

As a lawyer, I also have to say that I am ashamed of their attorney’s actions on behalf of our profession. Let’s overlook the fact that he went to court looking like a cross between PeeWee Herman and a 1974 Used Car Salesman in mismatched suits, shirts and bow-ties. Eccentricity in personal style is allowed in attorneys, within reason, and done well it lends panache’ that is often lacking in courtroom presentations.

An attorney has an obligation, however, to put forth good faith arguments in support of their position. I have frequently been asked, “How can you defend someone you know is guilty?” The answer is easy – I’m not necessarily defending them, they are merely the vehicle to be used to defend a principal or concept.

Their attorney, rather than looking at whether the rules were followed with regard to issuing their building permits, chose instead to question the beliefs of the Muslim faith and to raise the issue of Shari law, which is both irrelevant and inapplicable. If this were an evangelical church seeking a similar permit, no responsible attorney would even consider questioning the tenets of Christianity in the argument, and it should not have happened here.

I couldn’t help but think of the old adage lawyers learn early on – “If the facts are with you, pound the facts. If the law is with you, pound the law. If neither the facts nor the law are with you, pound the table and yell like hell.” Other than stirring up racism, bigotry and hatred, their attorney presented a poor case and he should be thoroughly ashamed of himself. I have confidence that an appellate court (as they’ve indicated an intent to take the matter up on appeal) will verbally thrash him for his irresponsible arguments and hopefully assess the costs of litigation against those bringing the lawsuit.

In a zoning case, the principal is that everyone has to be treated the same. A request to build a Mosque shouldn’t be treated any differently than one to build a Baptist Church. (And, in praise of the elected body in Murfreesboro, they didn’t treat it any differently. They were the ones that came across as relatively sane on television, saying they didn’t consider what the Muslim beliefs are, but rather whether the building met the appropriate zoning and safety codes).

The reality is that EVERY church, especially if located in a residential neighborhood, is a pain regardless of the denomination. Churches are no longer the quiet little white chapels that are occupied only on Sunday mornings. They now are major commercial complexes that have schools, day care centers, numerous meeting groups and loudspeakers to blast their music and message to the neighborhood. They create huge traffic issues in surrounding neighborhoods and property values for residential locations immediately adjacent to large churches tend to plummet, regardless of the denomination.

Let’s also remember that they’re doing all this tax free, competing with businesses who are doing the same thing (day care, concerts, providing counseling) and paying their taxes.

As someone who dealt with church construction projects from a municipal perspective for over 20 years, I can tell you that the ONLY group more difficult to deal with than a church is Wal Mart.

Interestingly enough, both claim omnipotence, although the source is slightly different.

Wal Mart because they are huge and will crush anyone who gets in their way. Churches because they claim they are doing “God’s Work” and if you don’t immediately capitulate you must be aligned with the devil. The most frequent tactic I observed, when a church was told that they must meet some particular building code or other ordinance, was to immediately try to shut down the City Hall by flooding the telephones with calls from all their senior members. It usually didn’t work, and tended to be counterproductive. After all, staff couldn’t deal with finding a solution to their issues if we were busy dealing with all the frivolous telephone calls.

Here’s the reality, though. A church or a mosque is a building where large numbers of people gather. As such, it falls into the category of a “Place of Assembly”. It therefore is treated the same as any other auditorium and must have appropriate parking, ingress and egress and safety features such as emergency lighting, sprinkler systems and adequate wiring. A crowd of people will attempt to rush from a burning building whether it is a church or a rock concert and the whole purpose of zoning and building codes is to insure that these activities happen in an appropriate location and the safety of the participants is guaranteed.

The content of the message delivered from the podium is irrelevant.

If the opponents to the construction of this mosque felt that it would be better located because there are inadequate traffic signals, roads or fire hydrants near that location, I could wholly support their opposition. Sometimes, even the best intended projects aren’t suited for a particular site.

That’s not the case here, though, and there was never any argument made that the location was inappropriate. The attempt to block this project, which will continue in the courts, is based upon nothing other than raw bigotry and hatred, and those claiming to oppose the project for religious reasons should be ashamed of themselves.

Their shame is even greater given that some of their members have resorted to terrorist tactics such as arson of equipment used on the project and intimidation of the congregation to attempt to stop construction of the mosque.

Before you think, “Well, but that’s not all of the people opposing the construction who are burning their equipment and vandalizing their site,” look at the parallel; over and over in the interviews, 9/11 was brought up and how Muslim terrorists had attacked the World Trade Center – it wasn’t all Muslims, just a few radicals. It may not be all Christians in Murfreesboro attacking the construction of this mosque, but all are painted with the same broad brush just as all Muslims are blamed for the actions of a few radicals.

It goes both ways, folks.  Not all Christians are bad just because there are a few wack jobs out there.  Same goes for every other religious group.  They've all got folks they wish would convert to something else.

I saw a bumper sticker the other day that has stuck with me. It said, “I like your Christ. I don’t like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.” The quote was attributed to Ghandi.

The actions of the people of Murfreesboro opposing the construction of this mosque are reprehensible, and they should be ashamed. They also ought to think of their own interests. What major company, having a diverse workforce, would even consider locating there after this?

The other thing to consider is that prohibiting speech because of content is a slippery slope.  Today, the majority is trying to silence the Muslims.  Tomorrow, will it be the Catholics, Jews or Presbyterians? 

If you can watch this documentary, I would encourage you to do so. I can’t find when it is playing next, but can’t imagine that such a well done piece will air only once.

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2011/03/09/unwelcome.the.muslims.next.door.cnn.html