FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATIONS FACE SUITS

Groups Using Federal Funds Are Accused of Proselytizing

WASHINGTON -- Faith-based groups are barred from proselytizing or
engaging in other obvious religious activity when using federal funds
to encourage teenagers to abstain from premarital sex or help
substance abusers fight addictions.

But some groups may have run afoul of that federal prohibition.
Lawsuits by the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for
Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom from Religion
Foundation accuse the faith-based organizations and the government of
violating the constitutional separation of church and state.
Meanwhile, experts say the Bush administration is doing too little to
monitor religious groups receiving federal money.

Critics cite the Silver Ring Thing program that preaches sexual
abstinence to teens. It is known for pulsing, high-tech, multimedia
shows at which teenagers can buy silver rings to symbolize their
pledge to avoid sex until marriage.

In the past year, the Health and Human Services Department suspended
a grant of more than $1 million to Silver Ring Thing after the ACLU
of Massachusetts sued the department, accusing it of mixing religion
with the sexual abstinence message. At the shows, Silver Ring Thing
openly urged teenagers to commit their lives to Jesus Christ, and the
rings it sold were inscribed with a New Testament verse.

"When the government looked into the situation in our case, they
obviously came to the same conclusion, that in fact their grant was
not being used properly and consistently with the Constitution," said
Daniel Mach, a 1st Amendment expert at the Jenner & Block law firm
that has represented the Massachusetts ACLU in the case.

Experts on faith-based groups that receive federal funds say vague
government rules have contributed to the situation, as has a lack of
government monitoring.

Although Catholic Charities, Lutheran Social Services and Jewish
Family Services long ago learned to clearly separate religion from
the government-funded social services they provide, experts say some
new recipients of federal funding--often groups operating out of
churches, synagogues, mosques and storefronts--are less careful. And
critics say the monitoring of these groups has not kept pace with the
increase in applicants for money since President Bush began lowering
their barriers to federal funding in 2001.

"There is little to no monitoring of faith content of services,"
Fredrica Kramer, a scholar at the Urban Institute, a research
organization here, said at a recent panel discussion on faith-based groups.

'Inherently Religious' Activities

According to the federal rules, faith-based groups receiving
government aid for social service programs may not use federal
dollars for any "inherently religious" activities. Further,
participation in religious activities by someone who receives
assistance must clearly be voluntary. And people receiving government
money to fight substance abuse must be offered a non-religious
alternative if they voice discomfort with the use of a faith-based provider.

But the rules are ambiguous in other areas, Ira Lupu, a George
Washington University Law School professor, told a conference last
month in Atlanta sponsored by the Roundtable on Religion and Social
Welfare Policy.

"Is it permissible," he asked, "to have religious themes, religious
content, religious activity, religious focus, religious
transformation as part of social service? As part of work training?
As part of substance abuse counseling? As a part of sexual abstinence
teaching?"

Urban Institute researchers discovered an after-school child-care
program run by a faith-based group that was cited by federal
officials as a model, yet it was using Bible stories to teach reading
skills to children.

Bush administration officials defend their efforts to inform
faith-based organizations on what is and isn't allowed.

"I wouldn't necessarily agree there's not enough guidance," said
Josephine Robinson, director of the Office of Community Services
within the Health and Human Services Department.

Her office funds programs in four "priority" areas: assisting at-risk
youths, combating homelessness, providing assistance to rural
communities and promoting healthy marriages.

"We provide significant training and guidance to all of our grantees
. about the explicit separation of religious activity and
proselytizing from any activities that are funded by [government]
money," she said.

She acknowledged, however, that there are limits to how much direct
monitoring of grant recipients can be done by her office. She has a
staff of only four, and her office oversees an estimated 330 groups.

Jeffrey Trimbath, director of the Health and Human Services
abstinence-education program, which funded Silver Ring Thing, said he
could not discuss the case because of the ACLU's pending lawsuit.

Operating under different federal regulations than Robinson, Trimbath
said he hopes his Washington-based staff of six would be able to
visit all 144 community-based abstinence-education programs over a
three-year period. To date, he said, "probably five" have gotten
"formal site visits."

'I Felt Helpless,' Inmate Says

The existing regulations are meant to prevent cases such as that of
Joseph Hanas. After he pleaded guilty to marijuana possession, a
county drug court judge in Michigan gave the 23-year-old Flint
construction worker a choice: agree to live for a year at Inner City
Christian Outreach, a faith-based residential facility, or be sent to
jail. Hanas chose Inner City, which is run by a Pentecostal church.

At Inner City, staffers told Hanas that his Roman Catholic faith was
"witchcraft" and prevented his priest from visiting him or giving him
his rosary beads, Hanas said.

And instead of substance-abuse treatment, Hanas said he was forced to
read the Bible several hours each day, attend five hours of church on
Sundays and was told the only way he would successfully complete the
program was to convert to the Pentecostal church.

"I felt helpless. I was threatened by prison and jail by the pastor
the whole time I was in there," Hanas said. After three months, the
judge responded to his complaints by removing him and sending him to jail.

No one at Inner City returned a phone call for comment, and it
couldn't be immediately determined what taxpayer money, if any, his
program has received.

The ACLU has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to have Hanas released
on probation on grounds that the drug court, by sending him to Inner
City, violated Hanas' 1st Amendment right to free exercise of
religion as well as the "establishment" clause requiring the
separation of church and state.