"MN Teen Challenge target of church-state complaint"

[Avidor]

Minnesota Independent:

http://minnesotaindependent.com/37710/mn-teen-challenge-target-of-church-state-complaint

A group monitoring issues surrounding the separation of church and state is urging Attorney General Eric Holder to revoke an earmark to Minnesota Teen Challenge, a Christian chemical dependency treatment center based in Minneapolis. In a letter to Holder, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State argue that MNTC has used taxpayer money to promote a specific Christian viewpoint in its programming.

The letter (PDF) cites a December 2008 Minnesota Independent report about a Department of Justice earmark secured by former Rep. Jim Ramstad in support of MNTC’s Know the Truth program, an educational program held in schools and churches featuring program graduates.

“because the Know the Truth program is a recruiting tool for MNTC’s thoroughly religious drug treatment program, the DOJ is supporting an inherently religious activity,” the group’s letter said. It also noted that MNTC only hires Christian staff for the program.

MNTC received $235,000 this year for the program at the request of Ramstad and Sen. Amy Klobuchar and is one of nine programs targeted by the Americans United complaint.

“In providing these grants, the U.S. Department of Justice is unconstitutionally aiding religion,” the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United’s executive director, said in a statement. “There’s no reason why organizations that evangelize or that discriminate in hiring on religious grounds should ever receive a penny from the government, let alone millions of dollars.”

Original thread...

Tell Amy Klobuchar - No Earmark for Halloween-Hating MN Teen Challenge:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=160x34452