Lawyer Views Suit Against Prison Ministry as Attack on Faith-Based Initiatives
by Ed Thomas
April 7, 2005
(AgapePress) - A Pennsylvania prison outreach is the target of a lawsuit that claims government endorsement and funding of its programs is a violation of the separation of church and state. Attorneys representing the ministry believe it is being used as a test case.Last month the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Americans United for Separation of Church and State jointly filed suit in a U.S. District Court against Firm Foundation of Bradford County (PA) and various Pennsylvania government offices. The Christian ministry, which provides an inmate vocational training program, receives substantial funding through local, state, and federal grants.
The two groups filing the lawsuit claimed that the religious character of Firm Foundation's inmate training program disqualifies the ministry from receiving government funding. However, according to Christian Legal Society (CLS) defense counsel Tim Tracey, there was another element to the argument.
"One of the interesting things about this lawsuit," Tracey says, "is that they're saying because Firm Foundation discriminates in its hiring -- in that it requires its employees to be Christian -- that this also violates the Establishment Clause. So that's kind of a newer issue that hasn't been addressed."
As such, the CLS attorney says the issue has implications for other federally-funded, faith-based community service programs. He believes this is likely by the design of the ACLU, Americans United and others on the political left that have been looking for the right court case to undermine and derail faith-based initiatives.
Tracey believes the eventual ruling in the case will establish precedent that may determine two important questions for the future. At issue, he says, is "whether or not the faith-based initiative will stand up to attack from the other side -- whether or not it is acceptable under the Establishment Clause."
Secondly, the CLS defense counsel says this important case "will answer the question of whether or not ... organizations that require their employees to adhere to a statement of faith or to adhere to a particular set of religious beliefs" can receive federal funding or, if they do receive such funding, "whether or not that violates the Establishment Clause."
Tracey is on the defense team for Firm Foundation in this case. He says he intends to argue that the law already makes the prison ministry's program constitutional, and that religious organizations do not have to secularize their faith-based programs in order to receive government funding.
Ed Thomas, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
