Governor: Pilgrim to Receive $1 Million Promised; Atheist: No it Won’t

The story continues..Hang in there, Pilgrim Baptist!

From the website of WGN-AM 720 Chicago:

Governor Rod Blagojevich is giving $1 million to the historic Pilgrim Baptist Church on Chicago’s South Side, because the initial $1 million grant he pledged to the burned out church mistakenly went somewhere else.

Blagojevich says the first $1 million went to a school that had been using space at the church before it was destroyed in the 2006 fire.

Blagojevich says that money went to “the wrong place.” His latest grant comes from available capital money he doesn’t think has been earmarked for other purposes.

Blagojevich says lawmakers don’t need to approve the move. The money is to be used for church administrative offices and educational purposes, so as not to violate the separation of church and state.

As for the school, Blagojevich says it can keep the money it got, as long as it’s spent to help children. Blagojevich says if the school can spend the first million dollars to improve education, and the church can spend the other million dollars to restore much needed community services, then it’s a win-win situation.

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From the website of Chicago’s WMAQ-TV, NBC 5 News (3/11/08):

Atheist activist Rob Sherman says it’s unconstitutional for Gov. Rod Blagojevich to give $1 million in state money to a burned-out church.

Blagojevich has said Pilgrim Baptist Church would use the money for administrative offices and educational purposes so as not to violate the separation of church and state.

But Sherman said the violation would still exist.

Sherman appeared at a Tuesday morning meeting of the Illinois Capital Development Board even though the governor’s proposal wasn’t on the agenda.

He said the governor can’t authorize money for nonsecular services.

Blagojevich pledged the money because the initial $1 million he promised after a 2006 fire at the church mistakenly went to an unaffiliated school.