Illinois Government Attacks Freedom of Religion

by Warner Todd Huston | July 12, 2011 12:28 pm

First Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan tried to have published for public consumption all the names and addresses of every gun owner in her state. Apparently she meant to harass the legal gun owners in her jurisdiction. Now she has launched an effort to harass religious adoption institutions and on the thinnest of pretexts, too.

As to the gun owners, back in March Madigan thought it would be a good idea to publish all the names and contact info of the law abiding Illinoisans who followed the law and registered their ownership of guns with the state police. You see you can’t own a gun in Illinois without a Firearms Owner ID card (FOID). Madigan wanted to publish all that information so that anyone could identify any Illinois gun owner[1].

Fortunately, she failed because the state legislature jumped into gear and added a section to the state’s gun laws to make it illegal to expose to the public all the personal info of the state’s firearm owners. Even the Democrats in Illinois couldn’t stomach Madigan’s attempt to “out” every gun owner and leave them open for harassment and to be targeted by thieves and gangs looking for free guns.

Well, her left-wing agenda got shut down that time, but ol’ Lisa is not to be deterred from her extremist ideas.

The folks at Illinois Review, one of the best political websites in the state, did some FOIA tracking[2] of Madigan’s latest attempt to instill a left-wing agenda in the Land of Lincoln. Madigan’s newest attack is an effort to harass and ultimately shut down religious-based adoption agencies in the state.

What IR found out is that Madigan used the power of her office to harass seven religious-based adoption agencies in the state — and by extension, every such agency — by sending threatening letters informing them that they are under investigation by the Attny Gen’s office. What did these seven adoption agencies do to get the full force of the AG to come down on their heads? It must have been an accumulation of complaints or multiple lawsuits or other legal dustups that preceded the investigations, right?

Well, not really.

No, what gave Attny. Gen. Lisa Madigan the excuse to attack every religious agency in the state was a complaint letter from a single gay couple from Lakeview about a single adoption agency.

Now, even if one letter from a citizen was enough to launch an investigation of a business in the state it most certainly is an abuse of her power for the Attny. Gen. to launch a major investigation of seven different businesses that are wholly unrelated to the one complained about, wouldn’t you think?

Ah, but Madigan isn’t looking for any legitimate exercise of the powers at her disposal. She is looking for a way to violate the religious freedom of the adoption agencies in the state that base their policies on religious ideals. Madigan and her left-wing pals, you see, want to end the right of religious-based adoption agencies to run their businesses as they see fit.

Madigan is following nothing less than an anti-Christian, radical gay agenda, here.

Imagine that you are sitting in your office carrying out your legal and Constitutionally protected business just like you always have, conscious that you have no complaints out against you, and a letter comes from the state’s top legal cop telling you that you are under investigation! It would most certainly have a chilling effect.

The fact is that this is no less than an attack on the Constitutional rights of Lutherans, Catholics and other religion influenced adoption agencies.

Check out Illinois Review[3] for the detailed FOIA requests that they’ve received. Their coverage is thorough.