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Suburban Chicago Mosque Faces Uphill Battle
CHICAGO, Feb 24 (IslamOnline) - Muslims are facing an uphill battle in their fight to win a civil rights battle against the City of Palos Heights as a judge threw out two counts involving conspiracy and zoning issues from an original lawsuit against the city citing discrimination.
U.S. District Judge James Zagel dismissed the idea that city officials conspired to keep the al-Salam Mosque out of Palos Heights because they were prejudiced against Islam. He also ruled that the mayor and the city's aldermen could not be held responsible under state law because they were involved in a zoning matter which is out of its jurisdiction.
He further added that the city did not have a binding agreement to pay the al-Salam Mosque Foundation for withdrawing its plans to buy Christ Community Church and convert it into a mosque.
However, there are two other counts of the lawsuit involving the free exercise of religion under federal and state laws that have yet to be ruled upon. Because of that, Mosque Foundation officials are not sure if a motion of reconsideration should be filed.
The above mentioned state law, called the Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which seeks to readjust the balance between religious worshippers and the power of government, is noteworthy because it is as of now untested. That is, until the al_salam Mosque Foundation brought its lawsuit.
The law, signed into law by Illinois state Governor Jim Edgar in December 1998, states that a government may not burden a person's exercise of religion unless it has a compelling reason. And even if it does, it must prove that what it is doing is the least restrictive way to achieve its goal.
Shehnaz Mansuri, a lawyer representing the Mosque Foundation along with prominent attorney Gregory Kulsi, said after the ruling, "I think that's what this case comes down to, the city interfering with our client's rights under the 1st Amendment to practice their religion in the city." She said that she is confident that the Mosque Foundation will win on the other two counts.
Mark Smolens, representing Palos Heights said, "Basically the judge accepted all the argument we made in the motion."
"There wasn't any evidence of a conspiracy. The city officials were immune from liability. The breach of contract count clearly didn't have any merit because the mayor vetoed the council's offer. Since they didn't override the veto, there was no offer."
The al-Salam Mosque Foundation, in the lawsuit, accused Palos Heights Mayor Dean Koldenhoven and all eight city aldermen, of conspiring in "numerous conversations and meetings to interfere and to prevent the plaintiff purchasing the church and worshiping."
The breach of contract referred to the offer from the city council to pay the foundation $200,000 and its legal expenses in exchange for dropping its contract to buy Christ Community Church, located at 6600 W.127th St.
The controversy started last May when the Mosque Foundation, currently located in the south side of Chicago, felt the pressing need for expansion and announced its plans to buy the Christ Community Church for $2.1 million for a mosque and a school.
Immediately upon hearing of the sale, the city council suddenly sprang into action claiming that it needed the building to expand a recreation center located across the street from the Church.
Apparently, the city council had not seen the property prior to its claim, because it was on the market for several years before the Mosque Foundation made the offer.
After intense and often heated debates over the issue, in several of which there were verbal attacks against Islam and Muslims, the city council offered to pay Al Salam Mosque Foundation $200,000 to drop its plan.
After initial hesitation, the Foundation agreed to the offer, but Koldenhoven vetoed the city council's $200,000 offer, saying that "offering a religious group cash to abandon plans for a place to worship is wrong," and termed it as a "insult" to the Muslims.
The Muslims responded with a July 28th lawsuit.
The plan to convert the Church into a recreation center was also put to vote in the November election and was rejected. Koldenhoven, who was earlier praised for his support of the Mosque Foundation was sharply criticized for his veto of the council offer.
Alderman Frank Passaelli at a council meeting discussing the issue had yelled out, "He's the one who says, 'You are bigots!'...He's to blame."
In a recently issued State of the City letter, Koldenhoven wrote, "The year 2000 is one that I will never forget! With all the usual things that happen in our City government, two things that will stand out for me is the Reformed Church/Mosque controversy and the death of my son, Donald James. Both happened at about the same time. In regards to the church/mosque situation, because it is before the court as we speak, I cannot talk about it other than to say we should hear from the judge in about two or three weeks. The City is asking for dismissal on all counts."
Mansuri said, "In regard to the written verification [of zoning], the Mosque Foundation kept being given the runaround by the mayor's office and the aldermen. They kind of weren't getting any kind of direction from the city whatsoever." To which Smolens responded, "We believe he's going to correctly find the Mosque Foundation was not entitled to any exemption or zoning verification from the city and that the church was willing to proceed with the sale.
"The city doesn't do that for anyone. That's why it has nothing to do with religion," he said.
Smolens said that the real reason he thinks the Mosque Foundation did not purchase the Church is because it did not have even monetary funding for the purchase, which he said Rouhy Shalabi (another lawyer representing Mosque Foundation) had told Harry DeBruyn, the Church's attorney. Shalabi has denied that.
Mansuri claimed, "There's no evidence that they didn't have financial backing."
"This came down to the zoning issue and Palos Heights' and the aldermen's and the mayor's decision to prevent the Mosque Foundation through the lack of verification from practicing their religion," she said.
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