[JURIST] On Thursday the US Department of Justice (DOJ) [complaint] filed a complaint [complaint, PDF] against Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania for denying zoning approval to a mosque in 2014. The complaint alleges that the township violated the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act [materials] after the board rejected the Bensalem Masjid’s requested zoning variance to build a mosque on three adjoining properties in the “Business and Professional district.” Under the town ordinances, religious institutions are only permitted to be in the “institutional district.” The DOJ alleges that rejection of the variance application constitutes a “substantial burden on Bensalem Masjid’s religious exercise, which burden is not in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest” or achieved through the least restrictive means possible. It is also alleged that, because other religious institutions have been granted zoning variances to build in areas other than institutional districts, Bensalem Township has discriminated against the Bensalem Masjid because of his religious belief. The DOJ seeks to obtain a court order to compel the city to approve the mosque and also seeks further, unspecified monetary damages.

Bensalem Township’s decision to deny the Bensalem Masjid’s variance application, despite granting similar variances to Christian and other religious institutions, is far from unheard of. In 2014 in Kennesaw, Georgia, the Kennesaw City Council refused to issue a permit [JURIST commentary] to build a mosque in a “retail only district” despite having down so for a Pentecostal church prior. The city council overturned its decision after the DOJ threatened file suit against the city.