New RLUIPA Case Filed

From ReligionClause Blog:

Islamic School Sues Over Rezoning Denial

Ann Arbor.com reports that the Michigan Islamic Academy has filed a federal lawsuit against the Pittsfield Township, Michigan Board of Trustees challenging their denial of zoning changes needed for the Academy to build a new school to replace its current overcrowded facility.  The lawsuit, alleging violations of RLUIPA as well as the 1st and 14th Amendments, claims that the township used fabricated reasons to deny the school's rezoning request. It charges religious discrimination that imposes a substantial burden on the free exercise rights of the school and its students.

RLUIPA at the Cutting Edge of the Law

Here is a post from the ReligionClause blog:

ADL Has Become Leading Defender of Mosque Construction Projects

According to a report yesterday by CNN, the Anti-Defamation League over the last few months has become a leading advocate supporting mosque construction projects around the country against local opposition.  Generally it has invoked RLUIPA to support mosque zoning applications.  The role has surprised some because of the high profile, and much criticized, opposition by the ADL last July to the proposed construction of a mosque and Islamic Center near Ground Zero in New York City. (See prior posting.)  However last September the ADL launched the Interfaith Coalition on Mosques. Last week the ADL wrote a letter, supported by the Coalition, to the mayor and city council of Temecula, California supporting construction of a 25,000 square foot mosque project there that is to be voted on today. The Coalition, however, is itself controversial. Last Friday, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Committee, Richard Land, withdrew from the interfaith Coalition, explaining: “While many Southern Baptists share my deep commitment to religious freedom and the right of Muslims to have places of worship, they also feel that a Southern Baptist denominational leader filing suit to allow individual mosques to be built is 'a bridge too far'." The Christian Post reports further on Land's withdrawal.

RLUIPA Handout Aailable

For those of you who did not pick up a copy of the RLUIPA handout yesterday in class, copies are available in the handout racks near the South side faculty suite.