Robert Sherman, a leading atheist activist and prolific litigant over church-state issues, died this weekend in the crash of a small plane he was piloting. The Poplar Grove, Illinois resident hosted a popular
radio talk show for 22 years; the final show was broadcast in 2007. As reported by the
Chicago Sun-Times:
In the 1980s and 1990s, Mr. Sherman was constantly in the headlines for atheism activism.
As Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper put it in 1998, “He has battled towns from South Holland to Deerfield to Zion to Palatine to Highland, Ind., and Wauwatosa, Wis., over public displays of religious symbols on water towers, on government property and on official village seals.”...
Mr. Sherman’s philosophy, on matters from the practical to the ecclesiastical, was summarized on robsherman.com, a website created to drum up donations for his planned 2018 [Green Party] congressional run in the 12th district....
And, he emphasized the issue that brought him to public attention. “I will sponsor legislation to get ‘In God We Trust’ off of our money, remove ‘One Nation Under God’ from our Pledge of Allegiance, eliminate the National Day of Prayer and repeal Christmas as a federal holiday,” he wrote next to his likeness on a coin proclaiming “In Rob We Trust.”
Discussion of a number of cases brought by Sherman can be found at
this link to past Religion Clause postings.
