“An injustice has been done. I will not stand by while any religious group is subject to unconstitutional treatment that violates federal civil rights laws.”
Source/Credit: Star Tribune
By Shannon Prather / RandyFurst |
The federal government on Wednesday sued the small north-metro city of St. Anthony, contending that its City Council violated federal law in 2012 by rejecting a proposed Islamic center.
The lawsuit sprang from a controversy that echoes those that have flared in many U.S. cities when Muslims have sought to establish worship centers.
“An injustice has been done,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said at a news conference in Minneapolis. “I will not stand by while any religious group is subject to unconstitutional treatment that violates federal civil rights laws.”
The lawsuit alleges that the council’s decision to deny the Abu Huraira Islamic Center the right to establish a worship center in the basement of the St. Anthony Business Center violates the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act passed by Congress in 2000.
It marks the first time federal prosecutors have sued a Minnesota city citing the law, although the Justice Department has filed similar suits elsewhere in the country on behalf of Islamic centers, according to a U.S. attorney’s office spokesman.
Federal authorities are seeking an injunction ordering St. Anthony to permit the group to use the business center. However, Luger said, there could be a more harmonious outcome. [ more ... ]
Read original post here: Feds sue city of St. Anthony over rejection of Islamic center
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