Library Turns Down $3000 Gift From Atheist Blogger, Claiming it’s From a ‘Hate Group’
by John Prager
The
American Library Association's Bill of Rights which is displayed on the
Morton Grove Public Library's web site, states that libraries "should
cooperate with all persons and groups concerned with resisting
abridgment of free expression and free access to ideas." Unfortunately
that is not the reality, as atheist blogger and board member of
Foundation Beyond Belief, Hemant Mehta recently discovered.
Following
a Morton Grove Park District board member's refusal to stand for the
Pledge of Allegiance or--more dastardly--say "under God," the group did
the Christian thing, a veterans' group pulled its donations from the organization in October.
Hemant Mehta of
the Friendly Atheist blog spoke up for Commissioner Dan Ashta's bravery
in standing up for the Constitution and free speech, and asked his
readers for help in recovering the lost money, approximately $2600.
Within a few weeks, readers brilliantly helped collect more than $3000. However, there was a problem. As explained in an e-mail Mehta received from Tracey Anderson of the park district:
Mehta announced the sad news to his readers:
[box
type="shadow"] “I know everyone who gave money wanted to help the Park
District make up for that injustice that happened..."Unfortunately, the Park District would rather lose money than take the charity of atheists and their supporters.”,[/box]
Mehta
gave the matter some thought, and elected to donate the $3,088.03 to
the Morton Grove Public Library. "The money was meant to support the
people in the community, after all, and if the park district doesn’t
want it, then I can think of no other place more deserving of the
donation," Mehta said.
After what the Chicago Tribune describes
as a fiery debate, the Morton Grove Public Library voted 5-2 not to
accept the dirty atheist money. The excuses varied, but at least three
board members, trustees Barbara Novick and Paul Berg, and treasurer
Cathy Peters, stated that they did not feel it would be ethical, as the
money was not intended for the library to begin with.
During
the debate on the issue, however, treasurer Peters offered some
different and interesting viewpoints, as reported by the Morton Grove Champion. "No.
2 [reason], they're a hate group," Peters offered as an explanation of
her decision that atheist money was not welcome. She asked a fellow
trustee, Arthur Goldstein,"Would you accept money from the Klan?"
Goldstein replied that yes, he would, if there were no strings attached.
Peters revealed during the meeting that she had exercised her right as
treasurer to prevent the check from being cashed.
Peters cited some cherry-picked anti-religion statements from the Friendly Atheist Facebook page as
evidence that this vile group of nonbelievers deserves the same
classification that one would give to the KKK or the Tea Party.
Apparently, her definition of "hate group" is "any number of individuals
that would forego their own needs to help replace money unjustly
withheld from an organization because of bigoted ideologies."
Mehta
says he is frustrated with how difficult it has been to give $3,000
away, and accused the board of trustees of making excuses. “I get 2,000
comments a day and don’t always look through all of them,” said
Mehta, “Anyone who operates a forum understands that. I stand by my own
posts, but them being bothered by random comments is a weak argument.”
Mehta is once again considering what to do with the evil atheist money.
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