t's all over but the verdict. That is the situation in a legal dispute pitting Pennsylvania atheist and First Amendment activist Carl Silverman against the Hagerstown Suns baseball team which, charges Silverman, discriminated in its promotion of a "church bulletin" discount night.

   Arguments in Silverman's case concluded late last month before Administrative Law Judge Georgia Brady, who could wait until mid-October before rendering a decision. Silverman is asking the court to end the six-year-old promotion which offers fans money off the regular admission ticket price to Suns' games if they produce a bulletin from a church. Arguing that the team is a "public accommodation," Silverman says that the practice discriminates against persons who might not have a religious belief.

   Silverman, a Pennsylvania resident, says that he to took his family to nearby Hagerstown, Maryland in April, 1998 to see the Class A minor league Suns play. On that day, the club was having a promotional "church bulletin" discount. "I informed the ticket clerk that, 'I'm not religious and I don't have a church bulletin.' " Silverman was then told that he would have to pay the full price of admission. He soon filed a "Charge of Discrimination" complaint with the Maryland Commission on Human Relations.

   The Commission agreed with Silverman and quietly suggested that the Suns drop their church promotion and settle the matter for a token fine. Team management became increasingly belligerent, though, and as the story spread on the news wires, religious groups expressed praise and support for the Hagerstown Suns. Suns General Manager David Blenckstone declared, "We have never required fans to have a religious affiliation to receive our special Sunday discount. We only ask that they provide a church bulletin."

   On June 12, 1998, the Commission issued a "Cease and Desist" order, and on July 29, 1998 ruled that there existed "probably cause" for a valid charge of religious discrimination against the Hagerstown Suns. Team management responded by promoting a "Faith Community Night," and announced that a portion of the receipts would be used for legal defense against Silverman and the MHRC. Suns players also began wearing an angel "halo" insignia on the uniforms.

   The hearing before Judge Brady began in late June, with Suns attorney Joseph A. Schwartz III suggesting that Mr. Silverman "targeted the team" after reading about the promotion. He accused the First Amendment activist of "wanting a controversy," adding further insult by declaring, "This is a pretty tawdry little spectacle of posturing, trying to set up a case." Schwartz then compared his clients to "the little engine that could" in standing up to Silverman, and opined that other forms of ball team discount promotions like Boy Scout nights or senior citizens discounts were in legal jeopardy as a result of the complaint.

   Under questioning, Silverman challenged the church bulletin promotion saying, "By publicly presenting a religious document that I don't agree with and don't subscribe to I'd be making a statement that I don't believe in..." Schwartz also suggested that Silverman could have gotten the discount by presenting a copy of an "atheistic newspaper" or some other item.

   The Suns' Director of Ticket Sales testified that he offered Mr. Silverman a copy of a church bulletin so he could obtain a discount. Silverman's attorney, Michael Berman, then asked to see the specific church bulletin in question, but was told that it had been discarded. He also question the claim, noting that previous accounts of the case contained no mention of Silverman being gratuitously offered a religious bulletin so he could get into the game at the discount price.

   The team's owner, Winston Blenckstone, told the hearing that Silverman or anyone else could have received the church bulletin discount by writing "nonreligious" on a blank piece of paper. The Hagerstown Herald-Mail newspaper observed that according to Blenckstone, "A broad definition of church bulletin has always been in effect." Michael Berman then asked Blenckstone if he would go to a Ku Klux Klan meeting in order to obtain one of their bulletins in order to receive a discount; Blenckstone said he would not since he doesn't agree with the Klan.

   Berman declared that because of the church bulletin discount program, the Hagerstown Suns -- an affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays -- "sent out a message that religious people are more welcome than others at their games." He also refuted the team's argument that Silverman should have attempted to use another discount program to get in, comparing it to the old separate-but-equal accommodations outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1954 BROWN v. BOARD OF EDUCATION decision.

   The low-point in this administrative hearing came with the attempts by the Suns to "humiliate him (Silverman) for profit," charged Mr. Berman. "The Suns are telling Carl Silverman he has to violate his creed."

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