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Suit Seeks Return of State Tourism Grant To Restore Bald Knob Cross

By Howard M. Friedman

Activist Rob Sherman yesterday filed a lawsuit in an Illinois federal district court seeking to force Friends of the Cross to return to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity a $20,000 grant it received to replace and install the exterior panels on the 11-foot high Bald Knob Cross in the Ozarks in southern Illinois.(Posting on Sherman's website; AP report). The complaint (full text) in Sherman v. State of Illinois, (CD IL, filed 8/12/2010), contends that the grant violates the federal Establishment Clause as well as Illinois Constitution's Art. I, Sec. 3 (religious freedom) and Art. X, Sec. 3 (no public funds for sectarian purposes). The grant was awarded as part of the state's efforts to promote tourism. (See prior posting).

Full post as published by Religion Clause on August 13, 2010 (boomark / email).