Free Republic

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The worshipers bowed low, their heads touching the freshly laid carpet, as the new mosque filled with echoes of exultation. “God, thank you for the ability to worship here today,” said Remziya Suleyman, 27. “Thank you, thank you.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to force a Tennessee county to allow a Muslim congregation to begin worshipping in its newly built mosque, which has faced a strong opposition from a group of residents. The U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and Islamic leaders in Murfreesboro filed separate lawsuits Wednesday against Rutherford County seeking an emergency order to let worshippers into the building before the holy month of Ramadan starts at sundown Thursday. In May, a Rutherford County judge overturned the county's approval of the mosque construction and this month he ordered the county...