The Justice Department announced it has filed a lawsuit against a Virginia county for not allowing a Muslim congregation to build a mosque on its land.
In a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, the department alleged that Culpeper County violated federal law when it refused to approve a sewage permit to the Islamic Center of Culpeper.
The county imposed a “substantial burden” on the Muslim congregation’s “exercise of religion,” and discriminated against it “based on religion,” the department said.
“The Constitution and federal law specifically protect the freedom of religious communities to establish houses of worship,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.
In February, the Islamic Center of Culpeper filed a permit application for a “pump and haul” system, which the county denied. But according to the department, Culpeper County has considered a total of 26 pump and haul requests for commercial or religious use since 1992, including nine for churches. According to the complaint, all were granted except for the Islamic Center’s request.
