• the217
• Life
• The Lord was not on trial

The Channing-Murray Foundation, located at 1209 W. Oregon St., hosted their second social justice forum for the spring semester on Feb. 27, permitting former Mayor of Champaign, Daniel McCollum to give a speech entitled, “The Lord was not on Trial: A Forum on the Constitutionality of Separation of Church and State Issues.”

Beginning at 7:30 p.m., McCollum summarized his mother's successful 1948 U.S. Supreme Court case, contesting the teaching of religion in Champaign public schools. McCollum’s mother, Vashti McCollum, thought the practice of religious education in public schools defied both the First and 14th Amendment.

“Vashti wanted to show that the classes were sectarian in nature and establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt,” said McCollum.

In an article distributed at the lecture, McCollum explained that although our country was founded by people fleeing from religious persecution themselves, “Ironically enough…they did not always want to extend that freedom to others of differing beliefs.”

Over the course of the lecture, McCollum explained the intricacies of the case and the adversity his mother faced in an area such as Champaign.

“Although Champaign was home to the state university, it was a sort of an intellectual backwater, with many people firmly holding onto their beliefs,” said McCollum.

Instead, his mother gathered support for the case in major cosmopolitan areas like New York and Boston explained McCollum. The Chicago division of the American Civil Liberties Union even provided Vashti with a plaintiff, while the Chicago Action Council supplied her with the funds to fight the case.

After McCollum recapped the history of the case, he opened the floor to questions. A series of questions stemmed from the attentive audience, blossoming into full on discussions about whether Muslim women should be allowed to wear veils in public schools, or whether a Christmas tree should be renamed a solstice tree.

Over the course of the questioning, McCollum showed obvious agitation at both the most recent appointed Supreme Court justices, and the current attrition of the U.S. Constitution.

“What happens in the Supreme Court is not chiseled in stone, but there is a disturbing fact that a serious erosion of the First Amendment is in progress,” said McCollum.

According to Nancy Dietrich-Rybicki, the social justice committee chair for the foundation, Channing-Muray is the Unitarian-Universalist campus center at the University of Illinois. By hosting events like this, Rybiski hopes to raise awareness about modern public matters which affect every person in America.

“We planned for this topic for a way to get people discussing our rights as citizens,” said Rybiski. “Discussion of different types of social issues is what leads to cases like Vashti’s going all the way to the Supreme Court.”

Rybiski was also very pleased with the turnout and input from the audience.

“I didn’t know a lot about the case before hand,” said Rybiski. “But mostly I’m just pleased with the amount of people who showed up. It proves that fighting for social justice is alive and well in America.”

The Channing-Murray Foundation’s hopes of galvanizing social justice discussion were not lost on those attending either. Bill Illyes, a guest at the event and self-described Bill of Rights aficionado, hopes more people will start hosting and attending events like this.

“Our freedom is entrusted in the Bill of Rights, but these rights are being chewed up by the Bush administration,” said Illyes. “America is funny; America is not what it was meant to be.”