Josh Gerstein points out that there is a federal law passed in 2000, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, that, as Don Byrd at the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty explains, "prohibits government from burdening religious activity through land use restrictions, unless there is a 'compelling state interest' to do so and that interest is achieved with the least restrictive means possible." That would seem to preclude any government intervention specifically aimed at keeping the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero from being built.
The bill was introduced by Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch and passed with bipartisan support and was passed by unanimous consent in both houses. One of the co-sponsors was Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who recently said of the proposed Park 51 project, "I don't know enough to say that it ought to be prohibited. ... But frankly I've heard enough about it and read enough about it that I wish somebody in New York would just put the brakes on for a while and take a look at this."
