Does this sound familiar:
"We've been called everything from demonic henchmen to agents of the devil," says Hicks, 52, a retired computer specialist who lives on land his family has owned for almost 40 years. "What we're going after has nothing to do with their religion. ...Our lifestyle has gotten to be curtailed around what they do, their comings and goings, especially on Sunday. They told us, if we didn't like it, to move."

How about this:
"Everyone is rejoicing — except neighbors and community activists who dislike the noise and traffic."

Neither quote is from Rockaway - Read about them both here (click the link) - along with some horror stories about other mega-churches that have ruined their communities.  By the way, the first quote is from Ohio and the second from Oregon.

"And it gets worse. If homeowners or the cities afflicted by these obscenely large mansions of God try to do anything to limit their expansion they risk being called anti-Christian or even sued for violating a horrid federal law that basically gives churches the liberty to do damn near whatever they want and to expand as much as they like." - We're in Texas now - here's the link

How about this quote:
"This project will tear the heart out of our beautiful neighborhood...The city has failed to address the inevitable traffic, light, noise and storm-water runoff problems this ill-conceived expansion portends for the future."

Nope - not from Rockaway - more like South Carolina

How about out west in Seattle: "``I will never, ever be able to get out of my driveway,'' a woman said, directing her words toward city staff who organized the neighborhood meeting to discuss possible traffic solutions. But residents didn't want to talk about traffic alternatives. They said they don't want the church at all."

I love this one - from Southern Methodist University - "Megachurches, by spreading their activities far beyond the pale of religion, don’t just take blatant advantage of the generous protections offered to faith in this country through the skirting of zoning laws — they fail in their Christian duty to treat others as they would wish to be treated." - Sounds like a very familiar complaint.

So - to those of you who think Rockaway Township is the ONLY place in the world fighting a megachurch...do your research.  You'll find we are not alone.  You'll see that all the names that we are being called - racist, anti-Christian, etc., have been used before in other towns.  You'll also find that megachurches that are already in towns do things like buy up the neighborhood, pave it over, and put in more parking to serve their evergrowing congregations.

Oh - a couple of more quotes:
"Church leaders must be savvy in zoning matters that can sour community relations" and "Jesus once talked about making friends with one's accusers on the way to court (Matt. 5:25-26). Today, he might tell a church to make friends with neighbors before meeting with the local zoning board." - both from Christianity Today magazine - Rev. Ireland should have read this article before attempting to come to Rockaway Township.

How about this one - "In practice, RLUIPA has another, very disturbing effect as well: It drives wedges between people in a community, and encourages name-calling.  Ninety percent of Americans profess some religious belief -- meaning that a religious institution's neighbors are overwhelmingly likely to be religious themselves. The neighbors' objection to the church, synagogue, or mosque, then, is not a religious objection. It's an objection about the project's effects -- traffic, noise, and so on." - from an article titled California's Defeat of a State RLUIPA Bill

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