CINCINNATI (ABP) — A federal appeals court said Jan. 17 that the Michigan government was right to discontinue funding a Christian ministry for abused, neglected and delinquent children.
A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a lower federal court's ruling against Teen Ranch because the organization regularly incorporates overtly religious instruction and activity into its treatment regimen.
The ministry had been receiving funds from the Michigan Family Independence Agency for housing and rehabilitating youths since the 1960s. However, after a routine 2003 review, agency officials instituted a moratorium on placing any more at-risk youths at Teen Ranch. They cited state and federal laws that prohibit proselytization with government funds.
After negotiations with the agency, Teen Ranch presented a plan for rectifying other church-state concerns FIA officials had, but pointedly refused to address Michigan's concerns about incorporating religious teaching into the youths' day-to-day activities.
Following the final round of negotiations with the state, Teen Ranch issued a statement that said, in part, “The mission statement of Teen Ranch states, 'providing hope to young people and families through life-changing relationships and experiences from a Christian
perspective.' This mission, and our interpretation of this mission, will not change, be sacrificed, nor will it be compromised. … incorporating religious teachings into on-going daily activities of youth and their treatment plans touches at the core of why we were founded, why we are here today, and why we will continue to include such programming for children in our care.”
The state informed Teen Ranch it would not lift its moratorium on placing children with the organization. Teen Ranch officials then sued, claiming FIA had violated their religious freedom, freedom of speech and right to equal protection by the denial of funds. But a federal district court disagreed.
The Michigan program provided funding on a per-child basis. Even though the Supreme Court has ruled that the government can fund religious social services through such voucher-type programs, the beneficiaries must have “true private choice” in selecting the religious programs over secular alternatives.
Teen Ranch appealed the lower court's decision. But Judge Damon Keith of the appeals court noted the Michigan children had no choice about which programs they were placed in.
“For the same reasons identified by the district court, we conclude that the opt-out provision of the public act did not provide the children placed in the care of the FIA with 'true private choice,'” he wrote, in the Cincinnati-based court's opinion.
Keith pointed out that “at least 35” of the 96 child-services providers Michigan's FIA contracts with are faith-based. None of the other providers has been found in violation of the rules against proselytizing without an opt-out provision for the students.
The ruling is one of several recent decisions against religious groups receiving federal or state funding to conduct social services. In many, courts found the organizations receiving government funds had failed to include adequate safeguards to assure that government funds were not spent on overtly religious teaching or worship activities.
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