Funding Blocked For Faith-Based Organization
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in General Politics, Money, ReligionThis is pretty interesting. Apparently a faith-based group was using federal funds to promote their religion, so the administration pulled the funds. They claim they weren’t.
Representatives of the Pennsylvania-based nonprofit describe Silver Ring Thing as a “faith-based” group but dispute charges it has commingled its public funds with religious activities.“Any religious teaching that goes on is separate in time and place from what the government is funding,” said Joel Oster, senior litigation counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing the Silver Ring Thing. “They offer a religious program and they offer a secular program; kids can choose which one they want to go to.”
But does their website tell the real story or is it just not updated?
In an advertisement on its Web site for a set of educational materials on DVD, Silver Ring Thing promises: “A secular program is also in development.”
Personally, I’m in favor of funding these organizations. I haven’t always been, because I think this is a slippery slope, but common sense tells me that many people will benefit from increasing funding to these organizations, so I support it. I only ask that they don’t knowingly promote their religion while helping people. I’m sure there’s going to be some crossover, where people who are getting help will want to find out more about the religion, but I can live with that.
In any event, I find this news pretty encouraging, as it draws a clear line in the sand about what is appropriate behavior for faith-based groups and what is not.
More from the Washington Post:
In a letter to the program director, Harry Wilson, associate commissioner of the Family and Youth Services Bureau, concluded that the project funded with federal dollars “includes both secular and religious components that are not adequately safeguarded.”The action comes three months after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against HHS, accusing the administration of using tax dollars to promote Christianity. In documents filed in federal court in Boston, the ACLU alleged that the activities, brochures and Web site of Silver Ring Thing were “permeated with religion” and use “taxpayer dollars to promote religious content, instruction and indoctrination.”
Teenage graduates of the program sign a covenant “before God Almighty” to remain virgins and earn a silver ring inscribed with a Bible passage reminding them to “keep clear of sexual sin.” Many of its events are held at churches.
In filings with the Internal Revenue Service, the organization describes its mission as “evangelistic ministry” with an emphasis on “evangelistic crusade planning.”
UPDATE: 10:08 am CMT
Balloon Juice points to a 60 Minutes piece that shows what the group’s founder, Denny Pattyn, says about condoms.
“My own daughter, my 16-year-old daughter, tells me she’s going to be sexually active. I would not tell her to use a condom,” says Pattyn. “I don’t think it’ll protect her. It won’t protect her heart. It won’t protect her emotional life. And it’s not going to protect her. I don’t want her to get out there and think that she’s going to be protected using a condom.”
Yes, I think the administration made the right decision.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 23rd, 2005 and is filed under General Politics, Money, Religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 23rd, 2005 at 10:03 am
I agree. I have no problem with funding faith-based organizations as long as they don’t use government money to proselytize or directly convert. I’m glad the Administration pulled the funding for this group. The website offers a “faith based follow-up” program and a “secular based follow-up” program. The initial program is the same. This seems to contradict the public statements that they are not promoting a particular faith.
August 23rd, 2005 at 10:15 am
Yeah, it actually appears as if they’re just plain lying. Kind of sad for a faith-based organization.
August 23rd, 2005 at 11:01 am
The sad thing is that other faith-based organizations have been handling work for the government for year, doing adoptions and foster care, without any of these problems. And it ’s not as if you can’t screw that kind of work up too, recently there was a group in Alabama that said it would not put kids in Catholic homes (though it was more than willing to acept donations from Catholic homes) – so the potential is there. This got press coverage in Georgia at least, an probably elsewhere in the South, and that may have changed their minds.
September 29th, 2005 at 9:33 am
HAMEY TRADE INTERNAT LTD.
Bangladesh: Hong Kong:
73, SANTINAGOR (3rd FLOOR). UNIT 02,11/f Kimberley Plaza ,
DHAKA-1217. BANGLADESH 45-47 Kimberley Road
TEL: 880-2-8318361 Tsim Sha Tsui,Kowloon, Hong Kong
FAX: 880-2-9343856 Tel: 852-2721 8260
FAX: + 1-661-752-9375 (USA) Fax :+ 1-661-752-9375 (USA)
E-mail : hamey@mtlbd.net E-mail : hamey@mtlbd.net
jingrim@bangla.net ayhayh@bangla.net
: hamey@mtlbd.net http://www.hameybd.com
———————————————————————————————————————–
As salamu alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
Translation: May the peace of Allah descend upon you and His Mercy and Blessings,
SUB: We like to get lone / invest in Bangladesh for establish a fish meal Plant .
Dear Sir,
Hamey Trade International Limited is a well-reputed private limited company in Bangladesh. We successfully installed more than 120 big projects in Bangladesh for our buyers, including Pellet Feed Poultry Fish and Dairy Feed Production Line, Fisheries & Hatchery, other agricultural Industry paper mills, Cement Industry, textile, Ps foam making plant, tape, food project, Hospital and others.
We have been the leading company for supplying the industries with machinery and equipment for food, agriculture, etc, in Bangladesh for quite a long time. We are involved in every level of agricultural development – from supplying machinery, to providing the farmers with new techniques for cultivating food crops, fisheries, poultry farms, dairy farms and advising the government how to achieve more stable and equitable international trade in agricultural commodities.
Our government also gives the priority in the Pellet Feed mill, Fisheries, Poultry and Dairy Feed Production. Now more than 125 fully automatic and more than 5000 semi- automatic feed mills are running in our country. More than 1000 new fully automatic feed mill industries are on the pipeline. For the fish and poultry feed industries, basic raw materials are Fish Meal and Fish oil. Unfortunately, we do not have any a Fishmeal & Fish oil Plant in Bangladesh. But we have see fish in our see port, which is now throw to the see by the fishermen. So we get the Raw Materials very chip and any quantity.
Therefore we have to import the Fishmeal from other countries with high price for running the feed industries. For this reason, the poultry feed industries are not profitable and cannot refund the loan in due time. For this, most of the industries become sick and the Government faces great problems in refunding the loans in due time.
If we can establish a Fish meat & Fish oil Plant here, then these industries can get the basic raw materials in less than 50 % of the existing imported price. The Government then can save a huge amount of foreign currency. Moreover, all the feed industries will become profitable and can play a great contribution in the overall economy of the country.
If you provides us with the fund as a loan for establishing a Fish meat & Fish oil Plant, we can support all the feed mills and can refund the loan by 2 years. This would help in reducing the poverty in our country and the Government can save huge amount of the hard- earning foreign currency. And this is one of the objectives of the World Bank. We are ready to accept all the rules and regulations of your organization. If you agree with our proposal and are ready to provide us with the fund, we would be glad to submit our detailed project-proposal and others.
Inshallah we receive your early reply and we can start the work as your wish .
Massalam
[ASRARUL HUQ MAHMOOD RUMY]
CHAIRMAN
TEL: 880-2-8318361
Mobil : 880-171544483
FAX: + 16617529375 (USA)
880-2-9343856. (Bangladesh)
E-MAIL -hamey@mtlbd.net
Web: http://www.hameybd.com