Justice Department investigating town’s rebuff to build mosque

Federal officials are probing whether a New Jersey town made violations on religious freedom laws. The investigation came after denying a group's plan to build a mosque.

According to PRESSTV, the Justice Departments enquiry came just a week following the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge filed a court case on Bernards Township in federal court. It accused of religious infringement.

The court proceedings alleged that a very lengthy method at which the town's planning board provided references to terrorism. It also questioned what children would learn when the mosque is created.

Salon reported that Bernards Township Mayor, Carol Bianchi, told The Associated Press that planning board members denied the mosque proposal. The rejection was based solely on land-use considerations. She stated that the members acted ethically and Bernards Township will work together with the authorities with the investigation.

"I know our planning board members and they are honest and ethical," the mayor said in an email. She added, "I trust they made their decisions based solely on land use considerations."

Bernards is around 36 miles west of New York City. Mohmmad Chaundry, the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge's founder, is a longtime Bernards Township local who once served on the town's school board.

The court case accused that a delayed and drawn out process at which the town residents made references to terrorism and raised questions on what the children would get from the mosque. "What should have been a simple board approval for a permitted use devolved into a Kafkaesque process that spanned an unprecedented four years and included 39 public hearings," the suit said.

On the other hand, the planning board expressed their concerns, among other things, about storm water drainage and a buffer zone between the proposed mosque and a neigboring property. The group is also suing under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which is the same statute that urges the Justice Department's enquiry. The 2000 law protects the religious organizations from being discriminations through zoning laws, as claimed by Yahoo! News.

Meanwhile, a municipality that was sued under the 2000 law must prove that it's zoning laws further some kind of compelling government interest. The attorney defending the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge, Adeel Mangi, also declined to comment on the investigation.

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