MURFREESBORO, Tenn., Nov. 18 (UPI) -- A judge ruled a Muslim group may build a mosque and Islamic center near Nashville, despite local protests Islam is not a bona fide religion.
"Islam is in fact a religion," Chancellor Robert Corlew III said in denying opponents an emergency injunction blocking the Murfreesboro, Tenn., project's construction.
Corlew said opponents of the new Islamic Center of Murfreesboro failed to prove county officials violated any laws or illegally approved the center's site plan.
The Muslim congregation of about 1,000 that wants the new center argued it had outgrown the 2,250-square-foot building it has occupied for nearly 30 years.
The new 52,000-square-foot complex is envisioned to include a mosque, multipurpose and educational facilities, a gym and athletic fields.
The opponents, whose lawsuit cost taxpayers about $50,000, claimed Islam is a seditious political movement bent on world domination rather than a constitutionally protected faith and that Muslims wanted to replace the U.S. Constitution with Shariah law.
Laurie Cardoza-Moore, a key opposition organizer, told The (Nashville) Tennessean the plaintiffs hadn't decided whether to appeal or continue to challenge the mosque with county officials.
But plaintiffs' attorney Joe Brandon Jr. has said he'd argue the case up to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
"I'm not gonna submit, I'm not going to convert and I'm not going to back down," The Tennessean quoted him as saying in his closing arguments. "And neither are any of these three plaintiffs."
The Murfreesboro conflict echoed similar embroilments near New York's Ground Zero and in Temecula, Calif.
