Some people just love to preach about religious freedom, but when it comes right down to it, they don’t treat all religions equally. ?And in this country, if you’re a Muslim, you are even more likely to be screwed over by this mindset.
Despite adhering to every guideline and principle set forth, the Suffah Dawaad congregation was voted against by the Kennesaw City Council in Georgia when they applied to build a mosque in a shopping center. Their attorney, Doug Dillard clarified:
“We would agree to limit capacity for each service to no more than 80 persons. We would also agree to limit parking to 40 parking spaces within the center. Noise has been an issue. All services will take place inside the facility.”
The congregation was reported to have made several concessions to meet the requirements, and yet they were denied.
Credit Martha Dalton / WABE
Debra Williams, one of the dissenters on the council, stated that her concern was that a religious center wasn’t appropriate for a shopping area. ?”I believe it’s a retail space. It’s as plain and simple as that,” she was quoted as saying.
To some extent, this makes sense. ?Fine, no religious centers in the shopping mall. ?We’ll keep it at stores and the like.
“Yet Williams and all four other council members voted unanimously in July to allow a Pentecostal church in a retail center when the council approved Redeemed Christian Fellowship Church to use a 4,000 square-foot unit in a center on the corner of Ben King Road and Cherokee Street.”
This, ladies and gentlemen, would be why there’s an issue. ?According to the Marletta Daily Journal,?the mosque was voted against 4-1, while the Christian church was approved unanimously. The council almost couldn’t take the vote, according to the city’s mayor, because no one would second the motion. ?Comments made by protestors and residents ranged from support for the mosque to condemnation of Islam as a religion. ?One of the protestors, Tammy Pacheco, summarized the Islamophobic stance perfectly:
?I think that the terrorist organizations fund Islam and that they’re not peaceful and even the moderates eventually become violent.”
That is a beautiful sentiment, really. ?All Muslims are violent people, and don’t deserve the same rights as Christians. Religious “freedom” wins the day once again.
As of this article’s writing, the Suffah Dawaad congregation has not yet decided on a path forward, though Dillard has advised them to take legal action.
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