Texas pastor, son speak out against 32,000-square-foot-mosque

A Texas pastor and his son were among dozens of residents who publicly opposed a planned Islamic development in the suburbs north of Dallas. 

An hours-long and sometimes raucous City Council meeting Tuesday night concluded with a 7-0 vote to approve the McKinney Islamic Association’s site plan for a roughly 32,000-square-foot complex (including a 15,000-square-foot sanctuary, classroom building, and gymnasium) on about 5.5 acres.

???? ALERT TEXAS:

McKinney is Becoming an Islamic Stronghold!

The McKinney Islamic Association (MIA) isn’t just expanding—it’s building an Islamic migration hub in Texas. They’ve secured 5.57 acres for a massive 40,000 sqft Islamic center featuring a prayer hall, gym,… pic.twitter.com/jPm4IjUNr3

— Amy Mek (@AmyMek) March 18, 2025

While officials described the vote as procedural and focused on whether the plans complied with existing zoning and ordinances rather than a broader policy debate, more than 150 people signed up to speak during public comment, many of whom raised concerns not on logistics but on ideology.

Pastor Corey Shahan, a McKinney resident and elder at Grace Covenant Baptist Church, told the council his concerns were based on the teachings of Islam. “I stand before you today, not out of hostility toward any individual,” he said. “Every person, regardless of religion or ethnicity, bears the image of God and is deserving of dignity and justice. My concern is not with people, but with ideas.”

He continued,  “Every civilization is ultimately shaped by the beliefs it embraces. Worldviews are never neutral. They produce culture, laws and institutions. The freedoms we enjoy today did not arise in a vacuum. They are the fruit of a distinctly Christian understanding of God, man, justice, liberty, the family and the rule of law.”

Shahan also urged the council to “carefully consider the ideological claims of Islam as a comprehensive religious and legal system,” including Sharia law, as part of their oversight of the mosque development project.

“In a number of countries where Islamic law has governed public life, freedoms such as religious liberty, freedom of conscience and equal legal protections for women and religious minorities have been significantly, significantly restricted,” he said. “Those realities stand in sharp contrast to the constitutional order and civil liberties that have developed within the heritage of Western civilization.”

A short time later, Shahan’s son, Luke, took the podium and reiterated some of the same points made by his father and called for the city to protect what he called America’s Christian heritage.

“We are not here to draw lines on a map, but to emphasize the nature of our community. McKinney has always been more than a collection of homes and businesses,” he said. “The laws, principles and community itself are rooted in America’s heritage, which is Christian.”

He also juxtaposed the teachings of the Bible with the Quran, pointing to the Islamic concept of dhimmi, a historical term for non-Muslims living in an Islamic state.

“Christianity teaches love your neighbor, turn the other cheek, and other biblical principles rooted in truth. It is a faith that respects the sovereignty of the individual conscience,” said Shahan. “In contrast, Islamic ideology, especially under the framework of Sharia law, presents a comprehensive legal and social system that often supersedes individual rights in favor of religious obligation. We also see, due to different worldviews, a different view of political framework and the concept of dhimmi status, where non-Muslims are tolerated but not equal partners in the civic square. Americans will be seen as inferior in their own nation under Muslim corruption. 

“Our American heritage is Christian. Our holidays, our legal precedents and our concept of natural rights are all baptized in the Gospel. To ignore this is to build on sand,” he added.

The vote marks the resolution of a years-long effort by the McKinney Islamic Association, which had proposed a larger, roughly 40,000-square-foot facility in 2024 that required a full rezoning of the property. That plan was withdrawn amid public opposition. The redesigned project submitted this year fit within the property’s existing zoning, a distinction members of the city council emphasized, noting that Tuesday’s vote was procedural rather than a referendum on the project’s merits.

The McKinney Islamic Association, established in 1997, operates a mosque that members say has been outgrown by their congregation. That location will remain open after the new campus is built, with roughly 30% of Friday attendance staying at the current location and 70% shifting to the new site. If completed as planned, McKinney would have at least four operating mosques, in addition to a Sufaraa Center.

Two local Republican lawmakers, U.S. Rep. Keith Self and state Rep. Keresa Richardson, also spoke against the development. 

“You and I know matters of conscience, the freedom to choose our faith or not does not exist in political Islam,” said Self, a co-founder of the congressional Sharia-Free America Caucus. “Ask any Muslim what the penalty is for leaving political Islam. It’s death.”

Richardson, who represents Texas House District 61, requested that the city council “pause final action” on the development “for a limited period of due diligence,” noting that Mohamed Algebaly, the imam of the McKinney Islamic Association, was also formerly listed as an advisor to an “Islamic tribunal” court. He is now listed as the director of the Islamic Tribunal of North Dallas.

In April, Texas Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton launched an investigation into allegations that the Dallas-area Islamic Tribunal was making judicial rulings based on Sharia law.

Not all speakers opposed the project. Former Mayor George Fuller defended the mosque and its congregation, pushing back on how some opponents characterized Islam and, in some cases, treated Muslim attendees at the meeting. He called their actions Islamophobic. 

“For American Muslim neighbors at McKinney Islamic Association, Sharia is understood as a personal religious framework,” Fuller said. “Yes, every religion and every culture has its extremists and radicals, and they should be condemned wherever they exist, but that is not who we’re talking about tonight. We’re talking about families who have spent decades serving this community and raising their children here, and demonstrating their actions by the values they live by.”