Faiths and freedoms

Local officials in Bernards Township, N.J., did not have a happy new year. They had told planners of a proposed mosque that it would need more parking spaces than a church needed, but on New Year’s Eve a federal judge called their decision illegal discrimination on the basis of religion under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

The Islamic Society of Basking Ridge and Mohammad Ali Chaudry, who filed the complaint, had received support for their cause by, among others, the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, the Interfaith Coalition on Mosques, the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of New Jersey, and the International Mission Board and the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention.

The Southern Baptist Convention? John Wofford, pastor of Armorel Baptist Church of Blytheville, Ark., objected and asked Russell Moore, president of the ERLC, at the denomination’s 2016 annual meeting, how “someone within the Southern Baptist Convention can support the defending of rights for Muslims to construct mosques in the United States when these people threaten our very way of existence as Christians and Americans?”

In his response, Moore emphasized religious liberty and sincere belief. If communities can ban mosques, they can also ban Baptist churches. Moore added: “The answer to Islam is not government power. The answer is the gospel of Jesus Christ and the new birth that comes from that.”

Wofford, in a letter published by the Arkansas Baptist News, pushed back: “Would Jesus Christ stand in a court of law, defending the rights of a false religion to erect mosques, temples or other places of worship which are clearly in violation of the First and Second Commandments of God?”

Moore is not alone in his defense of mosque rights. The National Association of Evangelicals also supported Muslim freedom to build: “The law should be applied fairly to all faiths.” Nor is Wofford alone in his opposition: Dean Haun, pastor of First Baptist Church in Morristown, Tenn., resigned as a trustee of the International Mission Board in protest. A big question: Is it the role of government today to apply the laws of ancient Israel to the religious cafeteria that is America?

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Blue law squabble

Looking for a beer on a Sunday morning in Bismarck, N.D.? You can quench your thirst at Laughing Sun Brewing Co., which opens at 11:30 a.m. If you need a pair of socks, though, you’ll have to wait. Target opens at noon.

Retailers have no choice: A 2015 law permitting bars to open at 11 a.m. does not apply to them. Some may say shops being closed on Sunday morning gives workers an opportunity to go to church, but the rules frustrate state Rep. Pam Anderson, a Democrat from Fargo: “I’m annoyed that I have to wait until Sunday afternoon to shop.” So Anderson introduced legislation to let North Dakotans shop on Sunday morning, with a few restrictions, such as a ban on vehicle sales.

The North Dakota House approved the bill on Jan. 31—but only by a 48-46 vote—and sent the bill to the North Dakota Senate for consideration.

Christopher T. Dodson, executive director of the North Dakota Catholic Conference, appealed to state and federal rulings to say the issue isn’t religion at all, but rest. The Sunday closing law doesn’t force specific beliefs, nor does it impose a time of worship: “The purpose of the law is to provide a common period of rest and relaxation to the benefit of families and communities.” —J.B.