US Department of Justice Sues Michigan City for Religious Discrimination
Jonathan Sanders
Updated 17 hrs ago
(STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich.) The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit Thursday against the city of Sterling Heights, Michigan, alleging that the city discriminated against a local Muslim community center "on the basis of religion" when it denied the center's special land use approval application to build a mosque.
The American Islamic Community Center (AICC)-- which is currently located in Madison Heights, Michigan -- has been hoping "to build a mosque in Sterling Heights because the location is more convenient for its members and its current space has become inadequate for its religious, educational and social needs," the DOJ said in a news release Thursday.
In July 2015, the AICC submitted a special approval land use application with the city to build a 20,500-square-foot mosque, according to a complaint filed by the DOJ in federal court.
A vote on the application was scheduled for Aug. 13, 2015, but was postponed to Sept. 10, 2015, after 50 members of the public spoke out at a Sterling Heights City Planning Commission meeting against the proposed mosque, the DOJ said in the complaint.
http://www.wspynews.com/news/national/us-department-of-justice-sues-michigan-city-for-religious-discrimination/article_a07a9db6-d1cf-5d8c-b2c9-e2a388fe00b6.html