Easter Pageant's Funding Jackpot Sparks Indiana Lawsuit.

State gambling grants given to religious groups in Indiana, including an Easter pageant, have sparked a church-state lawsuit.

The money came from the Build Indiana Fund, which receives revenues consisting of taxes on the state lottery, river-boat casinos and other forms of gambling. It was created in 1989 and is supposed to be used for capital building projects.

The Indiana Civil Liberties Union (ICLU) contends that the fund lacks clear award-granting guidelines, leaving it open to pork-barrel appropriations by legislators. The organization surveyed the 1,500 grants made in 1999 and found that $500,000 to $1 million had been diverted to churches, parochial schools and other religious organizations.

Among the awardees was the Marion Indiana Easter Pageant Inc., a group that sponsors a six-scene pantomimed musical pageant each year depicting the last days of Jesus Christ. Other awardees included Cathedral High School and a private Catholic college in Fort Wayne.

ICLU officials said some of the grants, such as the Marion Easter Pageant, appear to be patently unconstitutional. "Clearly, when government is funding a pageant designed to honor `the life of our Lord Jesus Christ,' one can hardly think of a clearer example of public funding of religion for religious purposes," said ICLU Legal Director Ken Falk. (Indiana Civil Liberties Union v. O'Bannon)