By Jeff Brumley / Baptist News Global
This is an abbreviated version of the story. For the full story, click here.
Religious freedom has become synonymous with division in the United States thanks to a rash of controversial state laws creating tension between conservative religious groups and LGBT rights.
Corporations and gay rights groups have squared off against states and cities where such measures have been proposed or passed. At the same time longstanding theological and cultural divisions between faith groups have been widened even further.
Now a legal dispute between a Muslim community and a New Jersey township is showing a different side of inter-Christian relationships. Baptist and other Christian organizations accustomed to cultural and legal sparring have joined the fight for the construction of a new mosque.
“It’s good when we can join hands with … folks we are sometimes on the other side of,” said Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.
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Close to 20 faith-based organizations filed an amicus brief arguing that the mosque project be approved. They including Hare Krishna, Sikh, Jewish, Muslim and Christian groups.
Walker said it is encouraging to see Christian organizations standing up for the religious rights of the New Jersey Muslim community.
The case involves a core aspect of faith, namely religious liberty, Walker said. That liberty includes the right to worship without facing extraordinary impediments to building a house of worship.
The suit falls under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which prohibits zoning discrimination based on religion. BJC pushed hard for the 2000 law and wants to see it enforced, Walker said.
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