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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Christianity Required? ACLU Calls for Investigation into OR Pregnancy Prevention Program

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Friday, May 4, 2007   

The American Civil Liberties Union has asked the government to investigate evidence that taxpayer dollars are funding religion in the "Stop and Think" program, a service of the Oregon-based Lane Pregnancy Support Center. Jann Carson with the ACLU of Oregon says a contract requiring presenters to have an "authentic relationship with Jesus Christ" raises concerns.

“If there is a misuse of dollars, then the government has an obligation to remedy that and to monitor how the taxpayers' dollars are being used in these programs.”

Abstinence-only programs receive $176 million in federal funds every year, and the ACLU says these funds should not be tied to a religious requirement for presenters.

Carson notes that a religious test for employees runs afoul of the Constitution when government funding is involved.

“It is impermissible for government to favor one religion over another.”

The ACLU's letters to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Oregon Department of Human Services, and a copy of the Stop and Think contract are available at www.aclu.org.



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