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Saturday, July 26: Sherman scores big win in court case to block Rod's plan to donate of one million state tax dollars to Pilgrim Baptist Church. For details, see the story written by Mike obinson of the Associated Press, which was published, today, in newspapers across the country, including the Fort Mill Times (Fort Mill, South Carolina) under the title Atheist gets green light from court, and in the Chicago Tribune under the same title. The Daily Herald published Robinson's AP story in their newsprint editions under the title, "Judge: Atheist can sue to block funding." See also the story written by Adriana Colindres, which was published, today, in newspapers across Illinois, including the Peoria Star Journal under the title Lawsuit to block state grant can go forward, judge says and the State Journal-Register (Springfield, Illinois) under the title Judge allows suit challenging state grant to church. In Adriana's story, the word, "perp," is law enforcement slang for "perpetrator."

Thursday, July 24: Dawn Sherman to receive prestigious John Peter Altgeld Award this Saturday from the Chicago Tribune McCormick Freedom Museum and the Newberry Library for her vigorous and successful defense of the First Amendment in the "Moment of Silence" lawsuit. Dawn will receive the award shortly after noon this Saturday at Washington Square Park, which is located about a mile north of downtown Chicago, at 900 North between Dearborn and Clark Streets. For more details, see the Newberry Library press release: http://www.newberry.org/media/Bughouse2008.html .

"We all know Rod did this two months before his primary election victory over Edwin Eisendrath. January 2006, when the fire happens, and he's in the March primary against Eisendrath, Rod was pandering for black votes. I understand that. But you can't have the state donating $1 million to a church. You can't do that with tax dollars."

As you consider the merits of my contentions, please keep in mind these two things, which are the key points that I will be making to the Judge in court:

First, Article Ten, Section Three of the Illinois Constitution states, in pertinent part, that "No grant or donation of money shall ever be made by the State to any church, or for any sectarian purpose." The key word, here, is the final "or." That clause in the State Constitution means two very specific and distinct things. The State of Illinois is prohibited from donating or granting money to any church for ANY purpose, regardless of whether that money is for secular (non-religious) or sectarian (religious) purposes. In addition (this is where that key word, the final "or" of the clause, comes in), the State is prohibited from donating or granting money to any other party for any sectarian purpose. The State is arguing that their money is being granted to the church for secular purposes, but it doesn't matter that the purpose is secular. The constitution clearly and unambiguously prohibits the State from granting money to Pilgrim Baptist for any purpose at all, even if that purpose is purportedly secular. Organizations that are NOT churches can receive grants or donations of state funds, so long as the money will not be used for sectarian purposes, but churches are prohibited from receiving ANY grant or donation of state money for ANY purpose. It's an important distinction which the State either doesn't recognize or is choosing to ignore. That's why I'm asking a judge to review the matter.

Second, a church certainly qualifies to act as the agent for the State in providing state-designated secular services. That means that if the State wants to conduct a feeding program in Bronzeville, or provide clothing to the needy or some other secular program, such as drug rehab or anything else, in Bronzeville, Pilgrim Baptist certainly qualifies as an organization which can act as the agent for the state, by providing these state-designated services in a non-discriminating manner without proselytizing and being reimbursed for the expenses that it incurs in providing the state-designated program. "State-designated" means that either the General Assembly, the Governor or some state agency has specified what program to offer, how the program shall be conducted and how much money shall be spent on that particular program. The State certainly could enter into a service-provider agreement with Pilgrim Baptist for Pilgrim Baptist to operate the program, with the State reimbursing Pilgrim Baptist for the program costs. That benefits the State (us taxpayers) because the State saves money by not having to set up the infrastructure to operate the program by obtaining space and hiring employees just for the purpose or providing this program, and you can't discriminate against a service provider simply because the service provider has a religious basis, if the service provider is willing to conduct a State-specified program in a secular and non-proselytizing manner. That's a lot different than what's happening with this Grant Agreement. In this "block grant" agreement, Pilgrim Baptist gets to decide, unilaterally, what secular program or programs it will offer to the community, how much it will spend on each program and what the program parameters will be. However, Pilgrim Baptist is not the Illinois General Assembly. We elected a State Senate, State Representatives and a Governor to make those decisions for us. The Pilgrim Baptist Church Board of Trustees has no right to make those program and financial decisions for us, unilaterally. Who elected them to make those decisions? Not only that. When the State asserts that the building that is restored with State money can only be used for secular purposes, that only applies until February 28, 2010. See the first sentence if Item 2.5 on page 13 of the Grant Agreement, which says, "The Grantee shall continue to provide the programs and services specified in the Grant Agreement for the term of the Grant Agreement" and also the third paragraph of the first page of the Grant Agreement, which says that the Grant Agreement shall exist "from the beginning date of 03/01/2008 through the ending date of 02/28/2010." After that date, Pilgrim Baptist could use the building, paid for with your tax dollars, for any purpose it wanted, including sectarian purposes.

Friday, July 18: Sherman files suit to block million dollar State of Illinois grant to Pilgrim Baptist Church.

Yesterday afternoon, Rob Sherman filed a lawsuit in the Chancery Division of the Circuit Court of Sangamon County, in the Illinois capitol city of Springfield, to block the State of Illinois and its Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) from donating one million tax dollars to Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago. The Complaint was assigned to Judge Leslie Graves as Case Number 2008 CH 0831. The first hearing on the case will be next Friday, July 25th, at 1:30 p.m.

The lawsuit was filed in Springfield because the "state actors" (that's the legal term) (Governor Blagojevich, DCEO Director Jack Lavin and State Comptroller Dan Hines) have their offices in Springfield. Sherman's attorney is Richard Whitney of Carbondale. Rich Whitney was the Green Party candidate for Governor in 2006 and has announced for Governor in 2010. Rob Sherman is the Green Party candidate for State Rep in the 53rd District of Illinois (Arlington Heights, Buffalo Grove, Mount Prospect, Prospect Heights and Wheeling).

The legal brief that was filed with the Court contains three parts. First, there is a Petition, a required document in this type of case, in which I ask the assigned judge for permission to sue the state actors. Next, there is the Complaint, which spells out my many legal arguments as to why it is unconstitutional for the State of Illinois to donate one million of our tax dollars to Pilgrim Baptist Church. Finally, there is a copy of the Grant Agreement, which is my Exhibit A.

Contrary to some news reports earlier this month, Pilgrim Baptist has not yet received any part of the million dollars. What actually happened, two weeks ago, was that DCEO executed Grant Agreement # 08-203176, which authorizes Pilgrim Baptist to spend up to a million dollars on reconstruction to rebuild their facilities that were destroyed by fire and then get reimbursed for those expenses. None of those expenses, if any, have been reimbursed, yet, by the State, so Pilgrim Baptist has not gotten the million dollars, yet.

Defenders of the Grant contend that the money will be used solely for a facility that will provide secular, non-religious services. What the defenders don't tell you is that this restriction only applies until February 28, 2010, which is the date that the Grant Agreement expires. After that date, the church can use the facilities for anything that they want. What this means is that, if it takes until late in 2009 or until the first the part of 2010 to complete reconstruction of the facility, the church would only need to provide secular programs for a few days or a few weeks, at most, to come away with a new building which they could use, any way they want, including for religious purposes, but paid for with one million tax dollars. Indeed, if reconstruction doesn't conclude until after February 28, 2010, then the church wouldn't have to provide any secular programs at all with the facilities that were reconstructed with the million tax dollars.

1) Article X, Section 3, provides, in pertinent part, that no grant of donation of money shall ever be made by the State to any church. The grant is from the State DCEO to PB Church. Article X, Section 3, does not provide for any wiggle room for situations where a church facility may be used briefly and temporarily for secular programs. Really, how much clearer does the Article X, Section 3, have to be that Rod can't do this?

2) Article I, Section 3, provides, in pertinent part, that no person shall be required to support any ministry or place of worship against his consent. The grant is for the reconstruction of the administration building of the church, but what is the root word of "administration?" Ministry. That's where the church operates its ministry from. Article I, Section 3, prohibits Rod from sticking the taxpayers with a church's ministry expenses.

3) Another provision of Article I, Section 3, provides, in pertinent part, that no preference shall be given by law to any religious denomination. Article I, Section 3, prohibits Rod from favoring one particular church over all others by donating a million dollars to one particular church that Rod, unilaterally, picks out, and obviously picked out for political purposes.

4) Article VII, Section 1, provides, in pertinent part, that public funds shall only be used for public purposes. The Grant Agreement merely requires that the programs made possible by the Grant be secular and non-religious. Nowhere in the Grant Agreement is there any requirement that these secular, non-religious programs have a public purpose. The church literally can do anything that it wants with the facilities, so long as it's secular and non-religious. Since when does a church Board of Trustees get to unilaterally decide what programs will be made possible by state funds? Who elected them to be the Illinois General Assembly?

I spoke with Minister Keith Gordon, the Pastor of Pilgrim Baptist Church, last March. Pastor Gordon acknowledged that there were clearly issues of constitutionality with the proposed state grant, and said that he would take my concerns to the church Board of Trustees. Later, Minister Gordon told me that the Board told him that they were going to go for the money, anyway, and that Gordon should stop talking to me. Shame on the Pilgrim Baptist Board of Trustees and their Chairman, Robert Vaughn, for seeking to stick the taxpayers with the cost of their ministry, particularly after they were told that their proposal is a blatant and unambiguous violation of numerous provisions of the State and Federal constitutions.

Thursday, May 29: Judge bans "Moment of Silence" law statewide. The federal judge handling the unconstitutional Illinois public school "Moment of Silence" law case today expanded his preliminary injunction statewide. Now, every public school in Illinois is barred from doing the moment of silence at the beginning of each school day. Previously, the injunction applied only to Buffalo Grove High School and the other schools in High School District 214. I'm so proud of my daughter, Dawn. She took on the entire Illinois General Assembly and won. Last September, Dawn got God banned from homecoming at Buffalo Grove High School. Now, she's gotten God banned from every public school in the State of Illinois.

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