Civil rights group sues Indiana over grants to religious organizations

By The Associated Press

06.01.01

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INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit this week accusing state officials of violating the First Amendment by giving gambling proceeds to religious groups.

The lawsuit, filed in Marion Superior Court, alleges that the state has violated the U.S. and state constitutions by giving money from the Build Indiana fund to religious or religiously affiliated entities.

It asks a judge to prevent the state from awarding future Build Indiana grants to religious organizations and to award the civil liberties group attorneys' fees.

John Krull, the ICLU's executive director, said the Build Indiana fund's lack of clear grant-awarding guidelines allows individual state lawmakers to decide on their own how money can be spent.

Krull said that has resulted in the funds benefiting religious institutions in violation of the Indiana Constitution, which says state money cannot be spent on "any religious or theological institution."

"When lawmakers decide that they don't have to abide by the law, that undermines the idea of law itself," Krull said.

The Build Indiana fund was created in 1989 and is supported by taxes on the Hoosier Lottery, the state's riverboats and other gambling. A state committee originally screened all applications for Build Indiana money, which was supposed to be used for capital projects.

But that changed over time, and in 1999 lawmakers approved dozens of projects with little scrutiny, Krull said.

The ICLU filed its lawsuit after reviewing 1,500 Build Indiana fund appropriations made during the 1999 budget cycle. Krull said that review found that between $500,000 and $1 million in state money had been given to churches, parochial schools and groups that sponsor religious events.

Among the groups funded was Marion Indiana Easter Pageant Inc., which hosts a six-scene pantomimed musical pageant each year in Marion depicting the last week of Christ's life.

The ICLU's lawsuit alleges that the Marion group received $25,000 in Build Indiana funds in 1999-2000 and that it states in its articles of incorporation that it was formed to "produce, either dramatically or in pageant form, the life of our Lord, Jesus Christ."'

Ken Falk, the ICLU's legal director, said the state's funding of the Marion group was an obvious violation of the U.S. Constitution.

"Clearly, when government is funding a pageant designed to honor 'the life of our Lord Jesus Christ' one can hardly think of a clearer example of public funding of religion for religious purposes," Falk said.

The lawsuit, which includes the ICLU as a plaintiff along with two Indiana residents, names Gov. Frank O'Bannon and State Budget Director Betty Cockrum as defendants.

Mary Dieter, O'Bannon's press secretary, said May 30 the governor's staff was reviewing the ICLU's lawsuit but declined further comment.

Cockrum, who last year called for a review of the 12-year-old fund and an examination of how the money is spent, also said she could not comment.

State Rep. Eric Turner, a Marion Republican who obtained the money for his city's Easter pageant, said he has no qualms about seeking the funds but said the Build Indiana fund may need more scrutiny.

"I would agree that maybe there needs to be more accountability on how the money is spent, but the people in my community support the pageant and so do I," he said.

Among the other grants the ICLU questions are $50,000 to Cathedral High School, a Roman Catholic high school in Indianapolis, and $125,000 to the University of St. Francis, a private Catholic college in Fort Wayne.