Not long ago, the city of Cypress, California -- where I used to work, for a while -- "used subterfuge, delay and stunningly unethical tactics" to seize land belonging to Cottonwood Christian Center (land minimally valued at a cool $18 million) and turn around and sell it to Costco for a tidy profit.

At about the same time, in the city of Greenwood Village, Colorado -- where, incidentally, I also used to work, for a while -- the Greenwood Community Church had acquired a nice parcel of land, spent a quarter-million on planning, architecture, and design, and had been "meticulous about meeting city requirements" for their new church facility. Even though the City Planning and Zoning Commission had already voted to approve the proposal, 5 to 1, the City suddenly decided to shut them down, giving no explanation, and proclaimed that the federal law prohibiting the City's actions was "unconstitutional", and that they could therefore ignore it's requirements.

And -- again, about the same time -- Flatirons Community Church in Lafeyette, Colorado -- which, incidentally, I attended just a few weeks ago -- was having similar problems, with City officials changing the rules as they went in order to prevent them from moving into a larger facility.

So clearly, city officials are sometimes hostile to the expansion of religious centers of worship in their cities. In fact, with the Kelo v New London decision, many worry that this trend may increase in coming years.

So imagine how touched I am to hear of a reversal of this situation, with the City Officials of Roxbury, Massachusettes apparently going out of their way to donate valuable land so that a mosque could be built on it. Boston columnist Jeff Jacoby points out the land was assessed at $2 million in value, suddenly devalued by the city to only $400,000, and then sold to the Islamic Society of Boston for a mere $175,000.

I mean, neutrality would certainly have been a nice stance. But with all the anti-church stuff afoot in many areas, it's certainly nice to see a city government take a strong, affirmative stance and directly subsidize the expansion of at least one religion.

One led by such lovely, caring individuals:

Abdurahman M. Alamoudi, who founded the Islamic Society of Boston in 1982 and became its first president. He has pleaded guilty in federal court to illegal financial transactions with Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and is to be sentenced on Oct. 15.

Osama M. Kandil, the president and chairman of the board of the society dating back a decade, has been linked to the directorship of Taibah International Aid Association, a group that federal officials suspect supports terrorists.