The Department of
Health and Human Services has suspended an
abstinence-education grant to the Silver Ring Thing program
amid worries that the organization uses tax dollars to
promote Christianity, The Washington Post reports.
HHS, in announcing that it is withholding a $75,000
grant from the organization, concluded that SRT
"includes both secular and religious components that are not
adequately safeguarded." SRT must submit a corrective-action
plan to HHS to better separate its religious and
secular aspects if the organization wants the funding
to be restored, according to Harry Wilson, associate
commissioner of HHS's Family and Youth Services
Bureau.
The American
Civil Liberties Union had filed a lawsuit in federal court
against HHS, saying the government agency was promoting
Christianity through its funding of groups like SRT.
Teens who participate in SRT receive a silver ring
that reminds them to "keep clear of sexual
sin" by remaining abstinent, according to the
ACLU lawsuit. Participants also sign a pledge
"before God Almighty" to remain virgins.
Documents filed by SRT with the Internal Revenue
Service also acknowledge that the organization is an
"evangelistic ministry."
SRT officials
insist that federal funds aren't being used to
promote religion, saying that the organization offers
both religious and secular abstinence programs that
participants can choose from. "Any religious teaching
that goes on is separate in time and place from what the
government is funding," Joel Oster, an attorney at
the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing SRT,
told the Post.
ACLU officials
plan to continue to monitor SRT for possible misuse of
federal abstinence funds.