Boston ACLU sues Silver Ring Thing / John Guest Evangelistic Team

[paineinthearse]

Excerpt: "The ACLU also notes that the silver rings that youngsters buy for $15 are inscribed with a reference to a verse from the New Testament that says, in part, ''God wants you to be holy, so you should keep clear of all sexual sin." Adolescents who buy the ring also receive a Bible.""

Looks like * has stepped over the federal-funding-to-promote-religion line on this one!

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http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2005/05/17/aclu_suit_sees_religious_content_in_abstinence_plan/

ACLU suit sees religious content in abstinence plan
By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff | May 17, 2005

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in federal court in Boston yesterday challenging the US government's funding of a faith-based abstinence program called the Silver Ring Thing, arguing that the public contribution of more than $1 million violates the constitutional separation of church and state. The nationwide initiative, which has held four events in the Boston area since 2002 and is planning more, urges middle school and high school students to forgo premarital sex and buy silver rings to symbolize their vow of abstinence. The three-hour events have drawn tens of thousands of young people since the program began 10 years ago.

In its suit against the US Department of Health and Human Services, the ACLU contends that the program's primary aim is to spread Christianity. The civil libertarian group cites several pieces of evidence, including a Silver Ring Thing newsletter that says the Pennsylvania-based ministry instructs young people that ''a personal relationship with Jesus Christ the best way to live a sexually pure life." ''Federal tax dollars are clearly underwriting religious indoctrination," said Julie Sternberg, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, which prepared the suit. The federal government can fund faith-based programs that perform social services, Sternberg said, but it cannot bankroll activities that explicitly promote a religion.

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The Massachusetts chapter of the ACLU filed the suit in Boston on behalf of the national organization. The group said it filed the suit here because members in the state were concerned about the program. The ACLU acknowledges in its suit that Pattyn, who leads the events, allows teenagers to participate in the secular discussion group. But the ACLU, some of whose members attended a Silver Ring Thing event at Gordon College in Wenham in September, alleges that young people feel pressured to participate in the religious discussion -- those who want to participate in the secular discussion, for example, have to switch rooms, while the religion-based discussion group can stay in their seats, the suit says. The ACLU contends federal money funds both the secular and religious presentations. The ACLU also notes that the silver rings that youngsters buy for $15 are inscribed with a reference to a verse from the New Testament that says, in part, ''God wants you to be holy, so you should keep clear of all sexual sin." Adolescents who buy the ring also receive a Bible.

Founded in 1995, the Silver Ring Thing calls itself the ''fastest-growing international teen abstinence program" and promises, after teens commit to wearing the ring, mentoring, guidance by e-mail, and access to advisers by instant messenger. The Silver Ring Thing has held events in many cities across the country, but it is not clear how many teens have taken the pledge; the group's website indicates it hoped 40,000 would be wearing the rings by the end of 2004. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette quoted Pattyn in December 2003 as saying the group's goal is to put 2 million rings on teens' fingers by 2010. Pattyn, according to the suit, is also executive director of the John Guest Evangelistic Team, an evangelistic ministry based in Sewickley, Pa., that IRS records show has the same address and federal tax identification number as the Silver Ring Thing. The federal money, according to the suit, helps fund salaries and benefits for the Silver Ring Thing staff, along with stage equipment and transportation of program officials to events.

more......read the full article, which cites studies that such programs are counter-effective and graduates who pledge to retain their virginity until married are equally susceptible to STD's and are more likely to experiment with oral and anal sex.

Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at [email protected].