Minneapolis cancels planned iftar, citing separation of church and state
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Minneapolis City Council members have canceled a planned iftar, after city officials raised concerns that it would blur the line between church and state.
The city’s four Muslim council members had planned a community iftar for Friday — a meal breaking the Ramadan fast. They advertised it as an interfaith gathering, hosted in the Public Service Building in downtown Minneapolis.
According to a city spokesperson, the city attorney’s office told council members they couldn’t host a religious event with public funds in a public building.
“This prohibition applies regardless of religion — whether this was an Iftar, Seder, or a Lenten fish fry, the advice would have been the same: City resources can’t be used for religious events,” city spokesperson Jess Olstad wrote in a statement.
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City Council member Aurin Chowdhury said at Friday’s council meeting that the cancellation was disappointing.
“We’re going to work towards postponing and doing an event with community partners,” Chowdhury said. “We are not going to stop what we were going to do, and breaking bread and being a part of bringing our communities together.”
Olstad said nothing would prevent council members from hosting iftar off city property with other funds.
Mayor Jacob Frey wrote in a post on X that his administration made the right legal call — and pushed back against claims of bias.
“Implications that my office intervened to shut down this Iftar celebration — and did so out of anti-Muslim bias — are both outrageous and untrue,” Frey wrote. “Separation of religion and state is a bedrock principle of our democracy and a legal requirement.”