7th Circuit rejects atheist suit over cross funding

June 4

(Reuters) - An atheist activist had no right to sue Illinois over $20,000 in state funds used to refurbish a towering Christian cross, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday.

The Chicago-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit found that the state legislature did not violate the separation between church and state by funding restoration costs for the 111-foot-high Bald Knob Cross of Peace in Alto Pass, Illinois.

The state had given Friends of the Cross a $20,000 grant after the monument, a popular tourist attraction, fell into disrepair.

Retired radio-talk-show host Robert Sherman, an atheist, accused the state of violating the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which prevents the government from supporting one religion over another. The district court rejected his challenge, and a three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit agreed, finding that the grant was not a legislative act.

http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/Legal/News/2012/06_-_June/7th_Circuit_rejects_atheist_suit_over_cross_funding/