Nearly 20 people gathered along Woodmen Road in El Paso County on Saturday to protest a potential mosque in the undeveloped area just outside of Colorado Springs city limits. According to the Islamic Society of Colorado Springs, the mosque will consist of a 14,680-square-foot facility on 5 acres.
“It’s not about the mosque per se,” said organizer Annette Yebba. “It is about the sharia law that’s usually behind it because all we need to do is look at what’s going on and other parts of the world and other parts of our country and see that sharia law is being imposed and that goes against our constitution.”
Yebba went on to enumerate her concerns about sharia, the body of Islamic religious law based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and hadith. “A lot of what they push is essentially no women’s rights,” she said. “I mean, these women essentially don’t have the education of men. All they essentially do is take care of the household and all these children. And they don’t even know that they have other options out there that our Constitution gives to them. And then the same thing with the gays, they’d just as soon throw gays off roofs. So it’s like, if this is the kind of stuff you’re for — you know, gay rights and women’s rights — sharia law is against that. And then we’re protecting their so-called religion, which is really an ideology, but if you go against Islam you can be killed for that because they don’t want any other religion besides their own.”
Ginger, a neighbor within walking distance of the proposed mosque site who declined to give her last name, raised concerns about recent incidents in Texas. “I don’t believe in Islam,” she said. “Even if they’re a moderate, I don’t believe in it. I don’t think it’s a religion. I think it is an ideology. And you know, I see what they’re doing. They go into a small place like this, and what do they do? Then they run the people out, they buy it up, and look at these towns, — Plano, Texas — they’ve taken it over.”
Controversy erupted in Plano over the East Plano Islamic Center’s (EPIC) plan for a 400-acre development. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott launched a campaign against what he called the “sharia city.” Abbott, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched a number of investigations against EPIC while using their social media reach to regularly speak out against the mosque’s efforts.
“The leaders behind EPIC City have engaged in a radical plot to destroy hundreds of acres of beautiful Texas land and line their own pockets,” said Paxton in a news release last month. “I will relentlessly bring the full force of the law against anyone who thinks they can ignore the rules and hurt Texans. The unlawful land project known as EPIC City will be stopped, and those responsible will be barred from ever creating another fraudulent operation like this again.”
Representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned the remarks and actions from Texas politicians.
“The governor’s rhetoric is fueling anti-Muslim bigotry and putting Texas Muslims at risk,” said Mustafaa Carroll, executive director of CAIR’s Dallas-Fort Worth chapter, in a Sept. 13 news release. “To single out Islamic practices as uniquely threatening undermines the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This approach sets a dangerous precedent, suggesting the government can discriminate against religious minorities based on popular misconceptions or political expediency.”
In December, Jake Lang, a pardoned Jan. 6 rioter who was recently arrested for vandalism in Minnesota, organized a protest in Plano where he held a severed pig’s head and led a small crowd around Plano with a banner reading “Americans against Islamification.”
Community Capital Partners, the group behind the development, now called “The Meadow,” released a January news release pushing back against the claims made by Abbott, Paxton, and others. “The Meadow is a proposed 400-acre master-planned community designed to serve families at every stage of life,” they wrote. “Plans include homes, parks and green space, schools, healthcare facilities, retail, senior living options, and houses of worship, including a mosque. The plan allows for multiple houses of worship, reflecting the community’s open and inclusive design. From the outset, the project has been open to anyone who chooses to live there and is being developed in full compliance with all local, state, and federal laws … The Meadow is about building a connected, multigenerational community rooted in neighborliness, dignity, and opportunity. It is about inclusion, shared civic values, and building a community where people of all backgrounds can live, connect, and thrive. Claims suggesting otherwise, including references to ‘sharia law,’ are false. No religious practice or private belief supersedes local, state, or federal law, and The Meadow is being planned entirely within those legal frameworks.”
Yebba said community members will continue to oppose the proposed mosque in El Paso County, with ongoing protests and prayer events.
