Rob Sherman is pretty well known around Chicago, and it is always for the same issue -- atheism. I think one of the comments in Eric Zorn's blog captured it pretty well, saying there is a "boy who cried wolf" aspect to Sherman. People (around here anyway) tend to tune him out even when he might have something to say.

I am not surprised by anything a politician says in an election year. You pretty much assume they are targeting one voter group or another with their remarks. The headline on cnn.com's lead story this morning, about the Democratic forum last night on religion, was amusing. It said Hillary and Obama took a day off the campaign trail to discuss religion. As if! For American politicians, discussing religion is hardly a day off. It's a minefield.

>I haven't read everything, but I plan to. Based on what I read so far, to think she is a state rep - I'm not only not impressed, it makes me pretty angry. I wonder who she thinks she is representing - all the hate mongers in Illinois?
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>Now to be fair, based on what I've read so far, the Council for Secular Humanism reads like a website devoted entirely to atheism (including how to raise your child as an atheist) and I have to put it on a par with any other 'religious' website spouting a specific philosophy over others.
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>>...before, when we were talking about religious freedom:
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>>http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2008/04/rep-monique-dav.html
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>>Though it says "blogs", there's a complete article first. I got to it through Crooks & liars, which I didn't visit in months, just had a hunch they'll have something nasty today.
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>>[update]
>>Just found the most proper quote from somewhere in the middle (it's a really long discussion):
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>>"This is hate speech against a minority group, plain and simple."