RNS: Mosques have more than doubled since 9/11. But Muslims say opposition is fierce.

Mosque opposition campaigns often coincide with midterms or national flashpoints. But they also consistently occur outside of election cycles and under all administrations, said Saher Selod, director of research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. 

“And I think that’s what this constant opposition to mosques, unfortunately, is showing is that anti-Muslim sentiments are still very prominent,” Selod said.

Mosques remain relatively uncommon in the United States, making up less than 1% of the nation’s more than 350,000 houses of worship. But in more recent years, when municipalities opposed mosque projects, federal courts have often overruled them, drawing on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a law passed by Congress in 2000. The law protects the rights of Americans seeking to build houses of worship and forbids local governments from imposing stricter zoning and other rules on houses of worship.