About a month ago I wrote about south Forsyth’s NIMBY mosque on Tidwell Road. Looks like Alpharetta is in the news for the same reason; except in this case, an existing mosque wants to expand. I am hesitant to write about this a second time, since this debate can get heated, but here goes.
The Islamic Center of North Fulton operates a small mosque on two lane Rucker Road. They want to expand the facility to 15,000 square feet. Here is an article about it. Local residents are opposed to it for pretty much the same reason some in Forsyth were opposed to the Tidwell Road location. Traffic.
If you have any doubt that bigotry plays a part in this, then read the comments from the link above. Or check out this debate thread from the same Appen Newspaper website. Again, I hesitate to post this for fear that I bring legitimacy to the nonsense these guys are pushing.
Look folks, people in the Islamic faith worship differently than Christians or Jews. They go in for prayer and they leave. It is more of a slow trickle of people going in and out, not the mad rush you might see going into a Sunday morning service at a Christian church. If you’re gonna have a religious group in your backyard, I’d say a mosque should be your first choice!
Also, there are already two fairly big churches on Rucker Road right now. St. Thomas Aquinas boasts a membership of 3,200 families! Restoration Church of God is also nearby.
I’m embarrassed to see some in my community react this way to people of a different faith. Let’s get these zoning requests approved and move on.
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