Kennesaw rejects plans for mosque at mall

KENNESAW, Ga. (AP) — The Kennesaw City Council has denied a request by Muslim residents to open a mosque at a strip mall, setting up a possible legal battle in the community northwest of Atlanta.

The council on Monday night voted 4-1 against the request, The Marietta Daily Journal reported.

About 10 protesters gathered outside City Hall before the vote waving American flags and signs saying “no mosque.”

Lawyer Doug Dillard, who represents the Suffa Dawat Center at Kennesaw, called the decision “a blatant attack” on the group’s First Amendment rights to freely practice religion.

“We think it’s discriminatory, and it violates equal terms,” Dillard said. “They had no reason to deny this.”

Mayor Mark Mathews said before the vote that the council must follow city ordinances. He has said previously that the city planned to review the proposal based on code compliance.

“This is not anything that the city ever takes lightly for a land use permit, regardless of what it’s for,” Matthews said before the vote. “We are charged with honoring the law, the laws within the city and the ordinances within the city.”

The application asked for the use of a 2,200-square-foot suite in a shopping center called Kennesaw Commons off Jiles Road as a prayer hall for Muslims.

Councilwoman Cris Eaton-Welsh represented in favor of the request, saying the applicant did everything he could.

“I’m saddened,” Eaton-Welsh said. “The amount of anger that has come out of this was not something I ever thought Kennesaw was all about.”