Christian Citizen Continues Fight Against Pro-Islamic Ordinance
by Chad Groening
July 22, 2004
(AgapePress) - A Michigan man says he believes voter confusion probably played a major role in the defeat of a referendum that would have repealed a Hamtramck city ordinance giving Muslims the right to broadcast their calls to prayer over loudspeakers. However, he insists the fight is not over.Born-again Christian Bob Golen says he is not surprised that Muslims were able to win Tuesday's referendum vote. He believes many Hamtramck voters may have been confused because of a school board recall issue also on the ballot. (See Earlier Story)
Golen thinks many of the people who were voting "no" on the recall issue thought they were voting on the issue of the Muslim prayer-call ordinance. "So I've got a feeling that probably enough to swing the election went the wrong way by mistake," he says.
The Christian citizen-activist says he intends to contact public-interest law firms around the U.S. that might be willing to pursue a court challenge to the ordinance. "Some attorneys in Dayton have indicated that they want to take part in this," he says, "so I'm going to leave it up to the lawyers at this point."
Believing the pro-Islamic noise ordinance to be a violation of the U.S. Constitution, Golen also intends to seek legal counsel locally, in hopes of finding someone who can help him prove his contention in court. "I'm going to get in touch with the Thomas More Law Center here in Ann Arbor, Michigan," he says. "I'm going to lay it out to them and see if they want to take it up on a constitutional basis, which I think it should be."
Until such time as a hearing on that issue can be scheduled, Golen hopes to seek immediate relief against the Muslim prayer call broadcasts in his community, perhaps by getting a temporary injunction.
