{"id":250,"date":"2010-01-12T17:52:14","date_gmt":"2010-01-12T17:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/01\/teen-challenge-and-faith-based.html"},"modified":"2010-01-12T17:52:14","modified_gmt":"2010-01-12T17:52:14","slug":"teen-challenge-and-faith-based","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/01\/teen-challenge-and-faith-based.html","title":{"rendered":"Teen Challenge and Faith-Based Funding:"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jay, <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While we wait to hear what happens in Congress over the
\nhealth care bill, I thought we may move on to another topic.  <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’d like to discuss an important issue that Americans United
\nhas been working on for years – faith-based funding. Over the
\nweekend, AU’s senior litigation counsel Alex Luchenitser was quoted in the Minnesota Independent<\/i><\/a> about a drug
\ntreatment program that has received more than $10 million in government funds.
\nThis wouldn’t be alarming except the program, Teen Challenge, describes itself
\nas a “para-church” ministry” whose “purpose is to train individuals (students)…to
\nbe disciples of Jesus Christ.” <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The government has entered into a contract with Teen
\nChallenge to perform drug addiction treatment services. But it’s always been a
\nproblem for the group to separate the treatment from the Christian orientation
\nand beliefs of the organization. And over time, the state has showed “clear
\nfavoritism” for the religious group by singling the program out for a raise in
\nfunding, despite its pervasively sectarian nature. <\/p>\n

What’s even worse is that Teen Challenge said it will hire
\nonly Christians that adhered to the statement of faith and code of ethics. The
\norganization stated that “whether a person is preparing a meal, writing a
\ncomputer program or generating a financial statement for the organization,”
\nthat person must “be an effective witness for Christ.” <\/p>\n

This program demonstrates all that can go wrong when
\nreligious organizations receive state funding without accountability
\nmeasures set in place to monitor that the funding is not going to discriminate in hiring
\nor proselytizing. <\/p>\n

Americans United already challenged in the court<\/a> the
\nInnerChange Freedom Initiative, a publicly supported, pervasively religious
\nprogram in Iowa’s Newton Correctional Facility. Inmates who participated in IFI
\nwere housed in a separate prison unit, where they were immersed in “24-hour
\nper day Christ-centered Bible-based programming” conducted by IFI
\nemployees, who were required by policy to be Christian. Americans United won
\nthe case at the district level and on appeal. <\/p>\n

Yet still, we have faith-based programs taking government
\nfunds while pushing religious beliefs, and at the same time discriminating in
\nhiring practices. This needs to stop. There are plenty of service organizations
\nthat do not push religion and deserve the funding. But if a religiously based organization must receive
\nfunding to perform these social services, we should at the least make sure that it does not use that
\nmoney to further a religious practice. Don’t you agree? <\/p>\n

To subscribe to “Lynn v. Sekulow” click <\/font>here<\/font><\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jay,   While we wait to hear what happens in Congress over the health care bill, I thought we may move on to another topic.     I’d like to discuss an important issue that Americans United has been working on for years – faith-based funding. Over the weekend, AU’s senior litigation counsel Alex Luchenitser…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[300,301,51,67,23],"class_list":["post-250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith-based-initiatives","tag-faith-based-funding","tag-innerchange-freedom-initiative","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-teen-challenge"],"yoast_head":"\nTeen Challenge and Faith-Based Funding: - Lynn v. Sekulow<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/2010\/01\/teen-challenge-and-faith-based.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Teen Challenge and Faith-Based Funding: - Lynn v. Sekulow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jay,   While we wait to hear what happens in Congress over the health care bill, I thought we may move on to another topic.     I’d like to discuss an important issue that Americans United has been working on for years – faith-based funding. 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An accomplished speaker and lecturer, Lynn has appeared frequently on television and radio broadcasts to offer analysis of First Amendment issues. News programs on which Lynn has appeared include PBS's \"NewsHour,\" NBC's \"Today Show,\" Fox News Channel's \"O'Reilly Factor,\" ABC's \"Nightline,\" CNN's \"Crossfire,\" CBS's \"60 Minutes,\" MSNBC's \"Countdown with Keith Olbermann,\" Fox News Channel's \"Hannity & Colmes,\" ABC's \"Good Morning America,\" CNN's \"Larry King Live\" and the national nightly news on NBC, ABC and CBS. On the radio, Lynn serves as host of \"Culture Shocks,\" a daily look at various issues affecting society and the culture. In the 1990s he served for two years as regular co-host of \"Pat Buchanan and Company\" and after that did a weekly syndicated radio program, \"Review of the News,\" with Col. Oliver North. Lynn is a regular guest on nationally broadcast radio programs, including National Public Radio's \"All Things Considered,\" \"Morning Edition\" and \"Talk of the Nation,\" as well as having appeared on national networks such as CBS Radio, CNN Radio, ABC Radio and AP Radio. Lynn began his professional career working at the national office of the United Church of Christ, including a two-year stint as legislative counsel for the Church's Office of Church in Society in Washington, D.C. From 1984 to 1991 he was legislative counsel for the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union. In 2006, Lynn authored Piety & Politics: The Right-Wing Assault On Religious Freedom (Harmony Books). In 2008 he coauthored (with C. Welton Gaddy) First Freedom First: A Citizen's Guide to Protecting Religious Liberty and the Separation of Church and State (Beacon Press). Lynn writes frequently on religious liberty issues, and has had essays published in outlets such as USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Nation. Lynn also has op-eds published frequently by the McClatchy and Scripps-Howard newspaper chains. A member of the Washington, D.C. and U.S. Supreme Court bar, Lynn earned his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1978. In addition, he received his theology degree from Boston University School of Theology in 1973. Lynn, who was born in Harrisburg, Pa., and raised in Bethlehem, Pa., lives in Chevy Chase, Md., with his family.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/author\/blynn"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lynnvsekulow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}