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St. Louis Post-Dispatch – July 16, 2007
Jews help Muslims fight St. Louis County council
Tim Townsend
When Rick Isserman found out last month that St. Louis County wouldn't allow a group of Muslims to build a new mosque in south St. Louis County, the story sounded too familiar.
Forty-eight years earlier, Isserman's grandfather, Rabbi Ferdinand Isserman, fought to move his congregation, Temple Israel, from the city to the county, where the Jewish population had been relocating for some years. The city of Creve Coeur cited zoning problems and tried to block the move, but the rabbi and his flock took the case to the Missouri Supreme Court and prevailed.
The case, Congregation Temple Israel v. City of Creve Coeur, produced what is considered a landmark religious-freedom decision that says Missouri municipalities can invoke only health or safety issues in denying a religious group the zoning required to build houses of worship.
In the spring, the St. Louis County Council refused the Islamic Community Center's request to rezone a 4.7-acre parcel it bought a year before for $1.25 million. The Muslims - mostly Bosnian immigrants - planned to build a second mosque and community center in addition to the current mosque and center off South Kingshighway in St. Louis.
When Khalid Shah, a member of the mosque and a friend of Isserman's, told him about the council's decision, the 53-year-old Department of Agriculture employee began making the connection to his family's legal legacy.
"I'm fighting the same battle as my grandfather 50 years ago," Isserman said. "It's a different community and a different place, but it's the same issue."……
An existing south St. Louis County mosque, the Bosnian Islamic Center of St. Louis, bought a building on Lemay Ferry Road just a couple of miles from the site in question. Imam Enver Kunic, the spiritual leader of the Bosnian Islamic Center of St. Louis, said that he has no problems with the County Council and that services at the building-turned-mosque will begin in the fall.
County Councilman John Campisi, who represents the area where the mosque and community center would be built, opposes the rezoning. He said the council's vote did not reflect religious discrimination…..
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/religion/story/3B0231E5D23B788A8625731A0013A987?OpenDocument
The Birmingham News – July 5, 2007
Muslim center opposition questioned
Hoover residents say religion is real issue
MIKE CASON
Some Hoover (Alabama) residents say opposition to a proposed Muslim worship center is mostly about religion, even though most of the public talk has been about traffic.
Some are speaking out in support of a developer's request to build the worship center on a wooded, 4.7-acre lot at the intersection of Sulphur Springs and Al Seier roads.
"I think it would be a disgrace or shameful if we prevent this religious group from coming in here," said Jerry Akers, who has lived in The Preserve subdivision near the proposed site for three years.
Jennifer Campbell said it's easier to complain about traffic than speak out publicly against Muslims.
"I truly believe if it were something like a Methodist chapel or something like that, there would not have been such a community-wide response to come together," said Campbell, who also lives in The Preserve.
About 150 people attended a June 25 meeting at Gwin Elementary School that was organized by opponents to the center. Traffic was the main concern raised. No one spoke in favor of the center.
Opponents planned to start a petition drive and write letters to city hall.
They also are expected to show up Aug. 13, when the Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission will consider the request of Georgia developer Lou Passarella to build the center for an Ismaili Muslim congregation that has met in a rented facility in Riverchase since 1999.
Passarella is aware of the opposition and met with members of the Muslim congregation on June 29 to discuss strategy on winning approval for the center. He now plans to meet with Hoover residents to answer questions about the center and introduce them to members of the congregation…..
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1183625314253670.xml&coll=2
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