State ends Latham's Indy job

From various reports

FORT WAYNE-A prominent Fort Wayne minister and civil rights leader apparently is out of a job due to an abrupt decision by a state agency.

Last week, the Family and Social Services Administration announced that it had decided to shut down a project to create a volunteer network of clergy to assist state employees and to eliminate the agency's chaplain position held by the Rev. Michael Latham, pastor of Renaissance Baptist Church and president of the Fort Wayne Branch of the NAACP.

According to published reports, Latham had been on sick leave since early July for an undisclosed illness, which some church members have said required a lengthy hospital stay.

Articles published in the Indianapolis Star during the past few months have been critical of Latham and the program. According to an article by Robert King of the newspaper, Latham was hired to head the program at $60,000 per year- nearly twice the rate most state chaplains are paid-and that the program had gotten often to a slow start.

The article said the Fort Wayne pastor had recruited 21 pastors to work as volunteer counselors to state employees, but none had started working as of yet. Complicating the situation is a lawsuit filed by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation which sued alleging the program violated separation of church and state laws. Although the FSSA is ending the program, the group reportedly is still upset because Latham will continue to be paid while he is on sick leave.

Latham, who campaigned for Governor Mitch Daniels during the last election, has defended the program publicly and said he wished he could have a chance to continue it.

This is part of the August 22, 2007 online edition of Frost Illustrated.

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