Resident Says City Leaders Ignored Public Comment on Islamic Call to Prayer
by Chad Groening
April 30, 2004
(AgapePress) - Long-time residents of a Michigan community are outraged over Tuesday night's unanimous decision by the city council to give final approval of an ordinance permitting area mosques to broadcast calls to prayer over loudspeakers.Hundreds of people crowded into the Hamtramck City Hall to voice their opinions about the controversial noise ordinance that would allow a Muslim prayer call five times a day -- something supporters say is the equivalent of church bells. Opponents contend allowing the Islamic call elevates that religion above others. (See Earlier Article)
But despite the ethnic and religious friction generated by the proposed ordinance for this Detroit suburb, all five members of the city council voted in favor of it. And even though he has misgivings about how the council handed the issue and feels the issue got totally out of hand, the mayor says he will not veto the amendment.
Resident Bob Golen says the council obviously did not care what anybody else thought or stated during public hearings leading up to the final vote. He says that even before the first meeting for public input, the president of the city council stated in the hallway that the ordinance would be approved.
"So they had made up their mind before any public meeting -- and it's been five-nothing ever since," he says.
In Golen's opinion, the relatively new council was swayed by what he calls "stupid arguments" from members of the Muslim community and by the presence of one Muslim on the council. He is convinced other communities will face similar ordinances in the future.
"This is only the beginning. They're going to use Hamtramck as a precedent," he says. "This is coming to your town, to the town down the road, and to the [next] town down the road."
According to the Hamtramck resident, one of the city councilmen stated afterward that he was "proud to set a precedent in this country." Golen adds that residents will now start a petition drive to try to overturn the ordinance with an August referendum.
Hamtramck, a blue-collar city of 23,000, was mostly Polish but has become more diverse in recent years. About one-third of the population is Muslim; only 23 percent of residents specified Polish ancestry in the last census.
