There are any number of reasons to challenge abstinence-only programs, but generally criticism focuses on the fact that the programs are completely ineffectual. In one ongoing study in Texas, students were more sexually active after undergoing abstinence education. In another study of the programs’ curricula, researchers found that many youngsters were taught “false, misleading, or distorted information,” including the notion that HIV can be spread via sweat and tears.
But the problem with these courses is not limited to the falsehoods they offer students. In at least one example, abstinence-only may also be illegal.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit yesterday against the Department of Health and Human Services, accusing the Bush administration of spending federal tax dollars on an abstinence education program that promotes Christianity.
Filed in federal court in Boston, the lawsuit alleges that the programs and educational materials distributed by Silver Ring Thing are “permeated with religion” and use “taxpayer dollars to promote religious content, instruction and indoctrination.”
Silver Ring Thing is a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit that promotes abstinence until marriage through its Web site, brochures, videos and seminars. Teenage graduates of the program, after signing a covenant “before God Almighty” to remain virgins, receive a silver ring inscribed with a Bible passage that the group renders as “God wants you to be holy, so you should keep clear of sexual sin.”
“Who would have ever thought we would see the day when promoting sexual abstinence among students would become an opportunity to communicate the Good News of the Gospel,” the group’s newsletter states. “Through our Silver Ring Thing program, students who are longing for sexual purity have the chance to begin again.”
If a church wanted to sponsor a program like this, fine. Research suggests it won’t help prevent unhealthy sexual activities, but that’s beside the point. The problem here is that Silver Ring Thing has received $1 million in federal grants since summer 2003 and expects to receive $255,000 this year. That’s our money.
When Bush unveiled his faith-based initiative in 2001, he tried to maintain the fiction that federal grants would not pay for religion, but would instead sponsor secular aspects of charities’ social service programs.
But therein lies the rub when it comes to Silver Ring Thing and efforts like it: there is no secular aspect. To give a program like this public funds is to necessarily finance religion.
“The federal government should not underwrite the religious indoctrination of Massachusetts students,” said Carol Rose, executive director of the Massachusetts ACLU. “The Silver Ring Thing is nothing more than a vehicle for converting young people to Christianity.” […]
Silver Ring Thing, also known as the John Guest Evangelistic Team, describes its mission as “evangelistic ministry” with an emphasis on “evangelistic crusade planning,” according to IRS filings.
“The mission is to saturate the United States with a generation of young people who have taken a vow of sexual abstinence until marriage and put on the silver ring,” according to the group’s newsletter. “This mission can only be achieved by offering a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as the best way to live a sexually pure life.”
Just to be clear, I’m not saying there’s anything particularly wrong with their evangelistic goal, but I am saying there’s something terribly wrong with Bush’s Department of Health and Human Services giving them $1.2 million to help advance that goal.
Should be a fun case to watch.