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         August 27, 2010        

Two Marion residents join Rob Sherman Advocacy
in demanding equal access to Tower Square

An atheist and a Wiccan, both of whom are residents of Marion, have joined Rob Sherman Advocacy in demanding that the City of Marion provide equal access to express their viewpoints about religion at Tower Square.

Tower Square in the City of Marion, Illinois.
From the Marion city web site, http://www.cityofmarionil.gov

Last Wednesday, the Wiccan, Marion resident Robert Donelson, joined me for a press conference at Tower Square to call Mayor Butler's bluff.  Mayor Robert L. Butler has said that he would find a way to get a Ten Commandments monument erected at Tower Square, but that he would allow no other religious perspectives to be displayed there because the Ten Commandments represents the opinion of the majority.  Mayor Butler challenged me to find local residents who would ask for alternative viewpoints to be expressed at Tower Square.

I've now done that.

Robert Donelson said, at our news conference held on Wednesday of last week at Tower Square, that if a Ten Commandments monument is erected at Tower Square, he wants equal time for his Wiccan perspective to be displayed.

Earlier this week, a Marion resident, who is an atheist, contacted me to say that, if a Ten Commandments monument is erected at Tower Square, he wants equal time for his atheist perspective to be displayed.

Today, I sent a letter to Mayor Butler, in behalf of the two residents, informing the Mayor that the two residents object to the display of private religious monuments at Tower Square.  However, if a Ten Commandments monument were to be erected at Tower Square, then these two residents demand the right to erect their own displays about religion, on an equal basis, at Tower Square.  I provided the Mayor with the names and addresses of both the Wiccan resident and the atheist resident, so that the Mayor will know that the objectors are real, actually do exist and are bona fide residents of Marion, which gives them legal standing.

The City of Marion has not yet decided what to do about the three requests for private displays about religion on Tower Square.  The City may allow all three displays, or they may choose to not allow any private displays about religion.  The one thing that the City cannot do is engage in viewpoint discrimination by allowing the Christian private display but not allowing private displays about any other religious perspective.

Previous Rob Sherman News story on this subject matter:

Wednesday, August 18:  Holy War in Marion, Illinois, over proposal to put Ten Commandments in Town Square

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