Republican Rep. Keith Self Backs Petition to Recall Local Officials Who Approved New Islamic Center

A zoning vote is not a referendum on a religion, and it's worth saying that plainly before we get into the politics of it. Local officials in this Texas town did what local officials are supposed to do: they reviewed a proposal, presumably checked it against the same codes that apply to a Baptist church or a Costco, and approved it. That's the process working. A congressman backing a recall petition because he didn't like the outcome isn't defending anybody's rights, he's telling voters that the correct answer to "we followed the rules" is "then we'll change who's in charge."

There's a real conversation to be had about how mosques get built in America, about foreign funding disclosures, about whether local boards are asking the same hard questions of every applicant regardless of faith. None of that appears to be what's driving this recall. What's driving it is that the building in question is an Islamic center, full stop, and that ought to bother conservatives who spent the last few decades arguing that government shouldn't get to pick winners and losers among religions.

We're the party that says property rights matter and that local government shouldn't be steamrolled by outside pressure campaigns. That has to apply even when the outside pressure is coming from one of our own. If a Republican congressman thinks these officials broke the law or ignored legitimate safety and zoning concerns, he should say so specifically and let voters judge the facts. Backing a recall over an approved, presumably lawful project because of what kind of house of worship it is isn't principle. It's just politics dressed up as one.