North Carolina mosque expansion draws Islamophobic opposition

RALEIGH (MNTV) — A civil rights group has condemned Islamophobic rhetoric at a public meeting in Mooresville, North Carolina — a state in the southeastern US — where residents opposed a local mosque’s expansion with claims advocates called conspiratorial and discriminatory.

The North Carolina chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil rights organization, criticized comments at the Aug. 3 Board of Commissioners meeting directed at the Islamic Center of Lake Norman.

The center, which has served the northern suburbs of Charlotte since 2011, recently bought land and won approval for a larger building after outgrowing its site. The expansion drew opposition from a group called Mooresville United, some of whose members told the meeting Islam was an “evil ideology” and raised claims about Sharia — Islamic religious law — and alleged threats to American society.

CAIR regional manager Al Rieder said the comments went beyond ordinary disagreement over local development and followed a pattern of anti-Muslim narratives that can raise risks for religious communities.

“The hateful and conspiratorial anti-Muslim rhetoric… raises concerns about the safety of the broader community,” he said, pointing to previous threats against North Carolina mosques.

The dispute comes amid rising anti-Muslim discrimination nationally: CAIR recorded 8,683 anti-Muslim bias complaints in 2025, its highest since it began tracking in 1996, and documented 17 incidents targeting mosques between May and July — more than half the previous year’s total. CAIR offered support to help protect the center during its expansion.