New Jersey township agrees to pay $3.25 million to Islamic Society to settle discrimination lawsuit
A New Jersey town has agreed to pay $3.25 million to an Islamic Society to settle a discrimination lawsuit over its refusal to issue a permit to allow the group to build a mosque.
The Department of Justice announced Tuesday morning that Bernards Township will now allow the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge to build a mosque and has agreed to pay $3.25 million in damages and attorneys' fees. The township also pledged to limit the zoning restrictions placed on houses of worship, according to CBS New York.
The Islamic Society's application to build a mosque was rejected by the township in December 2015. Last year, the society sued the town, alleging that it violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) of 2000.
In May 2016, a diverse coalition of religious groups, including the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board and the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, filed an amicus brief in support of the Islamic Society.
At the end of 2016, U.S. District Court Judge Michael A. Shipp ruled in favor of the society, saying the township had indeed violated RLUIPA by rejecting the mosque building plan.
The Justice Department also filed a lawsuit against the town, claiming that it changed its zoning ordinances to deny the society's proposal to build a mosque.
In the lawsuit, the Justice Department noted that the town changed its zoning laws to require houses of worship in residential districts to be at least six acres, which is larger than the lot purchased by the society in 2011. The complaint pointed out that eight of 11 other houses of worship built before the laws were changed are on lots smaller than six acres.
The township committee denied that it discriminated against the Islamic Society and noted that it has allowed the group's members to use other township facilities to practice their religion for years.
"We remain a united township where all are welcome," spokesman Michael P. Turner stated in an email to CBS New York. "This is the end of a long engagement on the application and opinions may still be varied, but it is in the best interest of the township to conclude the litigation," he added.
The society's attorney Adeel Mangi said that the federal court decision and the settlement will serve as a reminder to towns across the U.S. "that if they give into community animists and deny Muslims their constitutional rights there is a significant financial price that will follow."
"There is an epidemic of cases around the country where townships are unjustly denying Muslims the right to worship using contrived and pretextual land-use regions. Townships and cities around the country should be paying very close attention to what happened here in Bernards Township," Mangi added.