Rob Sherman Advocacy   
       Click on either picture for larger image and picture description.

"Fighting injustice, one victory at a time."

 

Liberal News and Commentary
Wednesday, December 11, 2002

American Atheists Expresses Support for
RS Advocacy Position on
Niles Creche Controversy

      I've asked American Atheists, the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the Illinois Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union to issue messages of support for the efforts of Rob Sherman Advocacy to secularize the holiday display in Niles, Illinois.  I've also contacted Americans United for Separation of Church and State about the issue, with a promise from them of a callback to me later today.  American Atheists is the first to respond with a message of support.

Supporters bring you Rob Sherman Advocacy.
Click here to join them.

      There is an important strategic reason for asking these other fine groups to express concurrence on this effort.  Sometimes, a judge wants to rule against my perspective, not because I'm wrong but, rather, because he likes the unconstitutional practice and wants an excuse to preserve it.  A gimmick that judges sometimes use is to claim that I'm the only one that feels that way, so I must be wrong.  Therefore, he is going to rule against me.  The judge doesn't say that my arguments lack merit.  Rather, he asserts that my arguments lack popularity, and that such lack of widespread public support is supposedly a constitutional justification for ruling against me.

      These other groups have been asked to issue expressions of support specifically for the purpose of immunizing this dispute against that particular judicial scam.

      Jim Senyszyn is the Illinois State Director of American Atheists.  Here is a letter that Jim sent to the Village President (Mayor) of Niles, Nicholas Blase, to express American Atheists' support for the efforts of Sherman Advocacy to secularize the Niles holiday display:

                                                       December 9, 2002
 
Hon. Nicholas B. Blase
Mayor
Village of Niles
100 Civic Center Drive
Niles, IL 60714
 
Re: Religious display at Niles Village Hall violates church/state separation
 
Dear Mayor Blase,
 
American Atheists protests the religious display at Niles Village Hall as a violation of church/state separation.  It does not present a sufficiently secular context, the composition of the display is preponderantly religious with only one small secular figure, and it is located on government property near a government building implying government endorsement of religion.
 
In Allegheny County v. Greater Pittsburgh ACLU, 492 U. 573 (1989) the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a crèche inside the county courthouse due to lack of a secular context, religious figures being the focal point of attention, and the central location within a government building.  The Village of Niles display has these same problems of context, composition, and location.
 
The 7th Circuit ruled in Mather v. Village of Mundelein, 864 F.2nd 120 (7th Cir.  1987) to permit a display but also recognized that there are two extremes and that new cases must be decided based on locating them between those two extremes. In deciding in favor of the Mundelein, the 7th Circuit noted,"passers-by will see a grouping of symbols, most of which are secular."  This is not the case in the Village of Niles display where all but one figure are religious.
 
Many atheists believe the crèche display is a crude way of plastering over historical falsehoods and inaccuracies in the nativity story.  My article "Debunking the Creche Tableau" which appeared in the Winter 1997-1998 issue of American Atheist magazine is attached to give you our perspective. The serious shortcomings should be addressed by reasoned arguments not by slap-dash plaster figurines and street theater agitprop.
 
Such agitprop distracts public attention from the real reason for the season--- the Winter Solstice with its  lengthened days despite the onset of Winter.
 
                                                               Very truly,
 

                                                               Jim Senyszyn
                                                               Illinois State Director
                                                               American Atheists
 
Attachments:   Debunking the Creche Tableau

      Meanwhile, the attorney that RS Advocacy uses to handle these types of matters is completing his research so that we can file the federal lawsuit in the next few days.

      It's not too late to secularize your display, Nick, but it will be very soon.

         Rob Sherman          

P. O. Box 7410
Buffalo Grove, IL  60089-7410

A post office box is used because
the street address uses a curb mail box,
which is not secure.

Telephone:  (847) 870-0700

Fax:  (847) 870-1156

E-mail:  rob followed by the at symbol followed by robsherman dot com