AROUND THE STATES

'Faith-Based' Job Bias Upheld In New York

A federal judge in New York has ruled that the Salvation Army can discriminate in hiring in federally funded social service programs it runs.

On Oct. 4, U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein dismissed a portion of a lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) that accused the Salvation Army of improperly using government grants to discriminate in employment on the basis of religion. The NYCLU represented former Salvation Army employees who alleged that they were forced from the organization for disagreeing with its religious policies.

The NYCLU noted in a press statement, however, that the judge did not dismiss the group's charge that government agencies had unconstitutionally used public money to advance the Salvation Army's religious work.

The NYCLU called the ruling in Lown v. Salvation Army a "mixed" one.

"Unfortunately," NYCLU's statement read, "the Court's decision offers no relief for the Salvation Army's social service employees who are the victims of religious discrimination in programs funded almost entirely by the government. The court has, wrongly, we believe, exempted the Salvation Army's government-funded programs from civil rights laws that generally prohibit discrimination against employees based on religion or creed."

The NYCLU said it was "considering future options in proceeding with all aspects of its lawsuit."

Christian 'Teen Ranch' Loses Funding Fight In Michigan

Michigan state officials were correct to end funding of an evangelical Christian organization that offers religious programs for juvenile delinquents, a federal judge has ruled.

In 2003, the Michigan Family Independence Agency, which places troubled youth in private care facilities, decided to stop contracting with Teen Ranch, a Christian group that had been providing such services since the mid 1960s. The agency decided to break its ties with Teen Ranch after an investigation revealed that the ranch would not stop injecting its religious beliefs into its programs. Government officials cited a 2001 state law called the Public Act, barring the agency from directly funding religious work.

Teen Ranch, represented by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), sued the state arguing that its decision to stop providing grants was unconstitutional. In part, the Religious Right legal aid organization argued that the state had violated the ranch's free exercise of religion.

U.S. District Judge Robert Holmes Bell dismissed all of ADF's claims and ruled in favor of Michigan's ban on funding Teen Ranch. According to Bell's 30-page opinion in Teen Ranch v. Udow, the troubled youth were wards of the state and had no independent choice in determining the residential programs where they were placed.

Bell wrote that state officials could not, without violating the state law, continue to provide public financing to Tccn Ranch, a pervasively sectarian facility.

In a Sept. 29 press release, the ADF said it would likely appeal the ruling.

Florida Governor Promotes Christian Book

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, in conjunction with the release of a major motion picture, has launched a contest to encourage students to read C.S. Lewis' Christian allegory, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Bush's "Just Read, Florida!" contest asks the state's private and public school students in grades 3-12 to submit essays, artwork or videos after reading the book, in which a group of children face good and evil in a fantasy land known as Narnia. The book is filled with allusions to Christianity.

According to the governor's Web site, the contest is being supported by the two "media giants," Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, which are releasing a movie based on the book in early December.

A vice president for Walden told the Palm Beach Post that the reading contest will help market the movie and that Florida officials approached the group with the idea.

"They came to us," said Debbie Kovacs. "We didn't approach them. They said they wanted to apply this book to their program."

Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told the Post that the state should not promote religion.

"This whole contest is totally inappropriate," Lynn told the newspaper, because of the religious theme of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. "This would be like asking children to watch the movie The Passion of the Christ' and to write an essay with the winner getting a trip to Rome."

Removal Of School's Religious Pictures Sparks III. Conflict

An Illinois pastor is working to force a public school to replace religious pictures that officials had removed to comply with constitutional mandates.

In mid July, Americans United for Separation of Church and State sent a letter to school officials in Anna urging them to take down three portraits of Jesus from the main hallway of the Anna Junior High School.

Citing federal court precedent, Americans United said the religious pictures' display in the junior high school was "grossly unconstitutional."