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First Amendment Attorney Bob Nelon for News6 - Legal experts explain why Broken Arrow mosque rezoning request was approved
December 2025
News 6
Many people at the meeting wanted the planning commissioners to reject the request based on harm they believed would be caused by Islam, but Tulsa attorney Bob Nelon said someone would have to be threatening immediate physical harm.
“They’re free to express opinions, even reflecting violent action. As long as they don’t engage in the violent action, then there’s no prohibition against that,” said Nelon.
When people at the meeting said Islam isn’t compatible with Christianity, Nelon says that’s not a reason Muslim’s can’t have a mosque to worship in.
“We are not a Christian nation. We were founded as a secular government that did not favor any one particular religion over another. That was the reason that we broke away from England in the first place. We didn’t want to be subject to the religious dictates of the government. And that continues today, and it’s embodied in the First Amendment that the government cannot interfere with the practice of religion or establish a religion, either one; it has to be neutral with regard to religion,” said Nelon.
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