A Maryland lawmaker has proposed a bill that targets radical mosques in the state by going after their tax exempt status, igniting calls of unconstitutional overreach.
Republican Delegate David Vogt, who is seeking election to Congress, announced this week that he’s filing the legislation in response to President Barack Obama’s Wednesday visit to the Islamic Society of Baltimore. Vogt originally proposed the plan in December following the Paris terror attacks. The bill would give the state power to withdraw tax credits and additional exemptions from any religious institution promoting terrorism, reports The Baltimore Sun.
His announcement of the plan and his denunciation of Obama’s first visit to a mosque as president has set off a flurry of criticism. Vogt says many mosques in the state have ties to radical Islam, including the Islamic Society of Baltimore.
“The President’s visit to a mosque with a history of promoting terrorism is a disgrace, and this bill ensures that Maryland’s taxpayers aren’t subsidizing special treatment for terrorist sympathizers,” Vogt said in a statement to The Baltimore Sun.
Vogt’s allegations against the Islamic Society of Baltimore stem from a 2004 article in The Washington Post that quoted a former imam as condoning suicide bombings in certain instances. The imam in question, Mohamad Adam El Sheikh, left the mosque in 2003 and has since come out publicly against suicide bombings, calling violent acts of extremism “un-Islamic,” reports The Baltimore Sun.
Critics of the plan have called it an overreach of powers and unconstitutional. A representative for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said the bill is “ridiculous” and would never hold up in the courts. Maryland manager of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said laws aimed at security cannot come at the expense of religious liberties.
Vogt defends the constitutionality of his bill, though, telling WUSA9, “The first amendment of the constitution protects freedom of speech and it protects freedom of religion, it does not protect anybody having an affiliation with or supporting any form of terrorism.”
Fellow Maryland delegate Eric Luedtke, a Democrat representing Montgomery County, alleged in December when the bill was initially proposed that it was simply a way for Vogt to gain support for his congressional bid, playing on the security fears of voters. Luedtke, who represents a large Muslim community in Maryland, also argues that such a measure would not be enforceable, reports WTOP.
“It’s unconstitutional,” said Luedtke. “It’s equating most of Islam with the actions of radicals. It’s not appropriate to blame all Muslims for terrorism.”
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