Mosque NIMBYism: The Neighborhood Muslim Ban

On March 6, the Bayonne, New Jersey, zoning board met for six hours to discuss an application to convert a warehouse at the end of a street in a residential neighborhood into a mosque.

Opponents of the proposal, mostly white residents, came up one after the other to the podium. They raised concerns about square footage, capacity, parking, buffer zones, and noise—often in voices quivering with anger. Islamophobia, which had surrounded the proposal since it first surfaced in 2015, was also in the mix. One detractor insisted he wasn’t a bigot because he had Muslim doctors who were very good, but “wanted to know what they believe,” pointing to the group applying for the permit. Another resident went a few steps further. To cast Islam as a dangerous religion, she angrily quoted passages from the Quran.