NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Today, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee and attorney Daniel Horwitz filed a lawsuit challenging the Bartlett Board of Mayor and Aldermen’s denial of a special-use permit requested by the Bartlett Muslim Society to build a mosque.
The decision follows months of efforts by the Society to meet the city’s demands, including paying for a costly traffic impact study conducted by a leading transportation expert, which found that the proposed mosque would have no adverse traffic impacts and that no traffic mitigation efforts would be necessary to accommodate the new building.
"This is a clear case of interference with religious freedoms cloaked in bureaucratic language," said Stella Yarbrough, ACLU-TN legal director. "The facts don’t support the permit denial, but they do reveal something deeper — an attempt to restrict a community’s religious practices based on who they are."
The city’s planning commission unanimously recommended denying the application, even though the city's own planning and economic development director supported approval, and the commission had previously supported similarly situated Christian churches for special use permits under comparable or less favorable circumstances. ACLU-TN has warned city officials in the past that this denial may violate the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), Tennessee’s Preservation of Religious Freedom Act, and the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause.
"Our congregation needs more space to worship, teach our children, and host community meals and gatherings," said Badrul Hossain, board president of the Bartlett Muslim Society. "We have tried very hard to work with the city and have responded to any and all concerns raised, yet we were still denied a permit. Sadly, we had no choice but to file this lawsuit in order to continue practicing our faith."
The lawsuit, Bartlett Muslim Society v. City of Bartlett, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee on behalf of the Bartlett Muslim Society.
"Mosques, like churches and synagogues, have a protected place in our communities," said ACLU-TN cooperating attorney Daniel A. Horwitz of Horwitz Law, PLLC. "Targeting one faith group with unfair zoning treatment without subjecting other faiths to the same restrictions is illegal."
The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare that the city’s actions violate RLUIPA and to direct the city to approve their application for a special use permit.
The complaint filed today can be found online at: https://live-aclu-tennessee.pantheonsite.io/sites/default/files/complaint_redacted.pdf
To learn more about the case, visit: https://live-aclu-tennessee.pantheonsite.io/en/cases/bartlett-muslim-society-v-city-bartlett
