Recently, a capital bill was signed by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn (i.e. the guy who replaced Blagojevich) which would give more than $11,000,000 to various religious projects.
$1,000,000 of that was going to go to Pilgrim Baptist Church — this was something that had been in the works for over a year.
When atheist Rob Sherman filed a lawsuit against our state last year over this illegal earmark, it resulted in an infamous exchange with State Representative Monique Davis during which she stated, “it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists,” referring to Sherman’s atheism.
Sherman now has good news to report:
Pilgrim Baptist Church won’t be getting any of that money.
The excuse that the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity used for cancelling the Grant was that there was insufficient money to fund the grant, but we know what the real reason was.
Shame on the Christians of Pilgrim Baptist for trying to steal our tax dollars from us. It’s not like they didn’t know that they can’t do that. I spent many hours on the phone with leaders of that church, last year, explaining that what they were trying to do was illegal, but they didn’t care. They decided to go for the money, anyway.
I’m not surprised by their decision to try to perpetrate this crime against us. After all, they’re Christians. They don’t have the same high ethical standards that we atheists have.
Next time, I’ll stop holding back and tell you how I really feel.
I don’t know if Sherman was the sole reason the church isn’t getting the money — he’s certainly patting himself on the back about it — but no doubt that without complaints like his, these illegal marriages between church and state would happen far more often.
So hats off to you, Rob Sherman. Nice work being persistent about this issue, keeping it in the minds of the politicians, and ultimately getting something positive to show for it.
