Voorhees Residents Oppose Building of Mosque

September 4, 2003

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/6685651.htm

On September 4, 2003 The Philadelphia Inquirer reported: "Flyers, contentious township meetings, and a threat of legal action have marked efforts to convert a vacant Voorhees building into a mosque. The zoning board will consider a site plan...Its approval could pave the way for construction by spring.

The proposal - in these days before the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - has divided residents.

Muslims seeking to build mosques in the United States have met resistance many times before, said academics who have tracked their efforts before local governments.

But Sept. 11 has intensified the struggle to build Islamic houses of worship, especially where those institutions are growing fastest - the suburbs, according to a 2001 study by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research."