The controversy surrounding Auburn’s proposed five-acre mosque has brought a much larger national issue into focus.
Allison Sinclair of Rightside Media has drawn attention to the project and the questions surrounding its approval, ownership, and financing.
Who is listed as the owner of the land for the Auburn Islamic Center’s proposed mosque? Lee County property records list the North American Islamic Trust as the owner of the five-acre parcel at 3305 Mill Creek Road.
Let’s take a closer look at the North American Islamic Trust: what does it stand for, and just how much property does it own across America?
The North American Islamic Trust, known as NAIT, reports hundreds of entrusted properties across 42 states. It holds titles to mosques and Islamic institutions on behalf of local Muslim communities.
But NAIT’s history also intersects with one of the largest terrorism-financing prosecutions in American history.
In the Holy Land Foundation case, federal prosecutors identified NAIT and CAIR among organizations associated with the investigation. The Justice Department presented evidence that the Muslim Brotherhood established a network in America to raise money for Hamas.
The Holy Land Foundation and five leaders were convicted of providing material support to Hamas, with approximately $12.4 million involved.
Those are not rumors. They are part of the federal court record.
The Auburn Islamic Center reports a construction budget exceeding $2.5 million, with approximately $580,000 already in its building fund.
That makes financial transparency a legitimate subject of public interest.
This debate reaches far beyond Auburn.
Alabama’s Governor-elect Tommy Tuberville has made his position on Sharia law clear.
“Sharia Law is fundamentally anti-American and has no place in our country,” Tuberville stated when introducing legislation in October 2025.
He also said, “We must protect American values, not apologize for them.”
Tuberville introduced legislation intended to prevent courts from enforcing religious or foreign laws that violate constitutional rights. His proposals also address immigration benefits for foreign nationals advocating interpretations of Sharia law incompatible with the Constitution.
These proposals have sparked a national debate over religious liberty, constitutional protections, and the proper limits of government power.
Meanwhile, Michigan U.S. Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed made headlines when he declared at an Arab American leadership summit, “Michigan is the capital of Arab America.”
That brings us to a question that matters deeply to many Alabama families.
How do we preserve the Christian values that have shaped so much of America’s history while remaining faithful to the Constitution that protects every American’s freedom?
Our country has been profoundly influenced by Biblical teachings about human dignity, moral responsibility, family, charity, and the importance of faith.
Those values remain central to millions of American families.
We should be able to teach them openly, practice them freely, and pass them to the next generation without fear or apology.
No organization is above the law. No foreign political movement is above the Constitution. No government official has the right to impose religious beliefs on unwilling citizens.
Alabama residents deserve accurate information about major development projects, their ownership, their financing, and the government process used to approve them.
Our Constitution protects religious freedom. It does not protect terrorist financing, unlawful foreign interference, or efforts to deny Americans their constitutional rights.
Those freedoms were not handed down without sacrifice.
And they will not remain secure without citizens who understand and defend them.
I want my children and grandchildren to inherit an America where they can carry their Bibles, worship openly, speak freely, raise their families according to their beliefs, and live without fear of religious or political coercion.
I want them to know the Judeo-Christian traditions that helped shape our country and the constitutional freedoms that protect their right to live by those traditions.
We cannot wait until those freedoms are threatened to decide they are worth defending.
That defense begins in our homes, churches, schools, communities, and government institutions. It requires informed citizens, honest public debate, transparency, and the courage to stand by our principles.
Our forefathers fought to give us a free America. Our responsibility is to make sure our children and grandchildren inherit one.
The time to protect that inheritance is now, not after it is gone.
Laura Johnston Clark is a wife, mother, and businesswoman. She grew up in the Wiregrass and now lives in Birmingham with her husband, retired Air Force Colonel David Etheredge. She is a member of the Alabama Republican Party.
