Rob
Sherman Advocacy
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Rob
Sherman Advocacy
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"Fighting injustice, one victory at a time."
Mayor Richard M. Daley's Office of Special Events will be presenting a government program to commemorate the first anniversary of the attack on our country by Believers in God (terrorists). The ceremony will be at noon on September 11th in the Richard J. Daley Center Plaza. (That's the Civic Center Plaza, named for the late former mayor and father of the current mayor. It's the place in downtown Chicago where the Picasso sculpture is located.) According to Mayor Daley's press release, "the centerpiece" of the ceremony will be "the mass reading of the Chicago Prayer of Hope, Unity and Remembrance, which was written jointly by prominent religious leaders of Chicago." I've been in touch with Mayor Daley's office and the Mayor's Office of Special Events to ask that they review the constitutionality of their plan.
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Mayor Daley commissioned several of the city's "religious leaders" to compose an official city prayer. The City is planning on using tax dollars to print and distribute copies of the official government prayer to those in attendance at the ceremony. The prayer will also be distributed to houses of worship throughout the city, with instructions to use the prayer at services later that same week. The City has directed that houses of worship shall engage in "traditional expressions of their faith," such as the ringing of church bells, at noon. Additionally, the City has directed school officials to suspend regular activities at noon on September 11th so that public school children can participate in reciting the official government prayer while observing the ceremony on television or radio.
There are nine issues that Rob Sherman Advocacy is challenging:
1. The government may not commission religious leaders to compose an official government prayer.
2. The government may not use tax dollars to pay for the cost of printing copies of a prayer.
3. The government may not use tax dollars to pay for the cost of distributing copies of a prayer to an audience which is attending a government ceremony.
4. The government may not distribute a prayer to houses of worship.
5. The government may not direct houses of worship to use a particular prayer at their religious services.
6. The government may not dictate to houses of worship if or when they should engage in expressions of their faith.
7. The government may not dictate to houses of worship what expressions of faith they should engage in.
8. The government may not tell houses of worship which days they should be open or what hours on those days that they should remain open.
9. The government may not lead public school children in prayer.
Mayor Daley can remove his prayer from Chicago's ceremony without a federal lawsuit, or he can remove it after a federal court issues an injunction, at great expense to the taxpayers. Either way, that prayer will come out of the government's 9/11 ceremony.
Rob Sherman P. O. Box
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Buffalo Grove, IL 60089-7410
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Telephone: (847) 870-0700
Fax: (847) 870-1156
E-mail: rob followed by the at symbol followed by robsherman dot com