Source: The Chicago Tribune
On July 2, 2004 The Chicago Tribune reported, "The mayor of Orland Park had planned to read about tolerance from Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address at a church's 4th of July rally, but has backed out because he found objectionable comments made by the pastor about a proposed mosque...In a letter to Rev. Vernon Lyons, pastor of the church at 153rd and Wolf Road, McLaughlin said it would be disingenuous of him to participate because of Lyons' stand against 'the free exercise of individual religious beliefs.'
'My belief in the Bill of Rights, including the freedom to worship in our own way, stands in stark contrast to that which you advocate,' McLaughlin wrote. 'I believe that to advocate in any way the prohibition of the free exercise of individual religious beliefs undermines the value of all our other freedoms.'"