Atheist sues over Jesus in newsletter
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Atheist doesn’t want to hear about Jesus (or pork) in Village’s newsletter so he intends to sue
A local atheist activist has filed a lawsuit against Buffalo Grove, Illinois to stop what he claims is the village’s promotion of religious services and events in its newsletters.
Rob Sherman said he has been complaining about promotions for churches or church activities in the Buffalo Grove newsletter and e-newsletter for years. He said he was preparing to file a lawsuit in anticipation of the Northwest Suburban Interfaith Council’s Annual Thanksgiving Interfaith Service, which was mentioned in both the 2009 an 2010 newsletters, but a new religious reference spurred his desire to more quickly file the suit.
Saturday, he received the village’s e-newsletter which included an announcement about an upcoming corn and pig roast at Hope Lutheran Church.
“I was particularly outraged in this case because they’re not only telling us to support a church fundraiser, but they’re telling a community that’s half Jewish to go eat pork,” he said. “I had enough.”
To make matters worse, Sherman said, Hope Lutheran Church is located in Long Grove, not Buffalo Grove and is the home church of Village Clerk Jan Sirabian. Sherman ran against Sirabian for village clerk in April’s election.
Because it is religious and not in Buffalo Grove, he believes it has no place in the e-newsletter and providing that space amounts to a donation to the church. The Illinois Constitution forbids donations of land money or other personal property to a church.
Michael McPherson, senior pastor at Hope Lutheran, said the pig roast is not a fundraiser. In fact, the church lost money on last year’s pig roast, he said, adding that it is merely a way to get members of the community together at the end of the summer.
Sherman also believes it is a violation of his First Amendment rights regarding the separation of church and state.
The village sees his claims differently.
“I believe it’s a baseless claim and I am confident we will be successful and we’ll plead our case in front of the court and not in the newspapers,” Village President Jeff Braiman said.
Sherman said he has tried to talk with officials at the village before going to court about the religious references in the newsletter, particularly the Thanksgiving service. He said they told him the announcements would stop, “but then it would happen again, whenever they felt like,” Sherman said. “They obviously don’t take my objections seriously, and well, now maybe they will.”
Sherman is seeking an injunction from a judge to stop the village from writing about religious events in its newsletter and $100,000 in damages.
The village’s attorney, William Raysa, would not comment on the lawsuit because it has been forwarded to the village’s insurance company, the Intergovernmental Risk Management Agency. The IRMA, which handles lawsuits against the village, will assign an attorney, he said.
Sirabian did not want to comment, but confirmed she is a member of Hope Lutheran Church, and not an Atheist.
Thanks to TribLocal
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This Sherman is an athiest fanatic with too much time on his hands.
Perhaps he should go buy a hog and hold an athiest hog roast to bring the community together. I’m sure the publishers of the Buffalo Grove email will allow him to spread the word through it.