The lawyer for a Somerset County Islamic organization believes that the township Planning Board is discriminating against his clients for wanting to build a mosque in the Liberty Corner section of Bernards.

Vincent T. Bisogno, attorney for the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge, said the board increased the parking requirement to 110 spaces despite a zoning ordinance suggesting a house of worship of this size be required to have 50 spaces. "Is it (the ordinance) only for Christians?" Bisogno asked during a board meeting Tuesday night.

Residents, some of whom have formed a group and hired an attorney to oppose the application, believe the mosque would be out of character for the rural and bucolic neighborhood. Some fear the mosque would invite too much traffic to the area.

Bisogno said that increasing the parking requirement at this stage of the process would be inconvenient. If the board can increase the parking requirements from the standards set in the ordinance, "why would anybody build in Bernards Township? That doesn't make sense."

"How do you determine storm-water management until you determine the parking requirements?" he added. "I'm at a loss as to what the parking requirement is here and what do I do in preparing a site plan.

"We want to be treated like every other house of worship. My clients are very concerned about this matter and I have told them many times that I have appeared here before ... and that this board is always fair and equitable. My clients are not convinced of that."

MyCentralJersey.com, 9 January 2013

See also "Attorney for Bernards Islamic Society is 'shocked' by planning board standards", NJ.com, 9 January 2013

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U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., was named Thursday to the citizens advisory board of an Ann Arbor-based legal center that fights for conservative Christian causes.

The appointment of Bachmann, who dropped out of the presidential primary in January, brings another high-profile conservative to the Thomas More Law Center, which increasingly has focused on Islam in recent years. In May, the center named U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., whose views also have sparked controversy, to the advisory board.

"I am pleased to join forces with the Thomas More Law Center," Bachmann said Thursday. "They are in the courts aggressively fighting the internal threat to America posed by radical Islam."

Richard Thompson, the center's president and chief counsel, said that Bachmann "puts country before politics."

"She understands the threat of radical Islam," Thompson said. "We share her concerns regarding the stealth jihad that's being perpetrated against the United States."

Dawud Walid, director of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that Bachmann is a "perfect fit" for the board. "Since Michigan has been a target of nationwide of anti-Islam campaigns, it makes sense that Bachmann would join a Michigan-based group ... openly hostile to the Islamic faith."

Detroit Free Press, 4 August 2012

The Thomas More Law Center has acted on behalf of mad Pamela Geller and Qur'an-burning pastor Terry Jones, whose loopy views it entirely shares.

In an interview with WorldNetDaily earlier this year Richard Thompson stated: "Islam is more than a religion. It is a political ideology that regulates every aspect of human existence and calls for the Islamic domination of the world. Since radical Muslims know they can never defeat our military on the battlefield, they devised the strategy of internal subversion."

He added: "Like the ancient Trojan Horse welcomed within the city's gates, Islam has entered America disguised as a religion. But its ultimate objective is political: Destroy America and establish an Islamic nation under Shariah law. So while America sleeps, they are awake and subverting our government, as well as our public schools and universities. And we will not be deterred from our efforts to stop them."

See also Alex Seitz-Wald, "Keith Ellison slams Bachmann's 'galling' witch hunt", Salon, 4 August 2012

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Community Unites with CAIR Against Hate at Hillsborough County School Board

Anti-Muslim Extremists Defeated at School Board

Diverse interfaith coalition stands united in solidarity with Muslim community

Dozens of diverse community members of many faiths attended yesterday's school board meeting to request the school board not to give in to censorship by banning advocacy groups at the request of anti-Muslim extremists.

The board agreed that there is no place for censorship in America and that the current policies which permit teachers to invite qualified speakers to schools do not need to be changed. Those pushing for censorship claim that their problem was only with CAIR, not Islam, however, their statements caught on video shows that they really wished to attack Islam and Muslims as a whole. Their attack on CAIR was simply because CAIR is the largest Muslim civil rights organization.

Nonetheless, dozens of community members came out to oppose the hate and show solidarity with the Muslim community.

Hassan Shibly Official Blog, 11 April 2012

For the background to the controversy see here, here and here.

Photo: Hassan Shibly (centre) at the school board meeting.
Below, an example of the propaganda issued by his opponents.

 

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