ACLU Seeks To Keep Roman Catholic Church From Helping Victims Of Human Trafficking
The US government is allowing a Catholic organization to limit a program for human-trafficking victims to groups that do not provide access to abortion or birth control, the American Civil Liberties Union charged yesterday in a lawsuit filed in Boston.
The US Department of Health and Human Services hired the US Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2006 to help immigrants who had been forced into prostitution or slave labor. The bishops have disseminated millions of dollars in federal funding the past two years to an array of nonprofits, including the International Institute of Boston, that directly assist victims.
“We think this is a blatant violation of the separation of church and state,” said Brigitte Amiri, the lead ACLU attorney in the lawsuit against Health and Human Services. “The federal government never should have allowed this in the first place.”
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the Catholic bishops in Washington, acknowledged the restrictions, saying they are in keeping with the church’s religious and moral beliefs. She said they won the federal contract because they offer an extensive network of services for victims, including access to healthcare, housing, and job training. The bishops have received about $6 million in federal funding to aid more than 600 victims nationwide.
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19 comments
Don’t you just LOVE the ACLU? They are so diligent in looking our for our freedoms. Why, folks like this would completely eliminate religion, just so the government can’t possibly “mix it up” with them.
[1] Posted by B. Hunter on 1-13-2009 at 05:13 PM · [top]
B. Hunter - you know the ACLU simply has to keep the world safe for child pornagraphers, neo-Nazi’s, Islamic terrorists, and gay activists you know (does anyone know any other group the ACLU regularly helps?). Christians interested in helping the poor and downtrodden are clearly the real threat to America.
[2] Posted by jamesw on 1-13-2009 at 05:19 PM · [top]
What about the rights of those who profit in human trafficking? Does the ACLU care nothing of these poor maligned entrepreneurs, whose only “crime” is that their values do not align with religious bigots who hand out government funds? Surely this too is a problem with separation of church and state, with our government foisting “morality” on public policy.
Protect us, ACLU!! Protect us from the tyranny of FREEDOM!!!
[3] Posted by J Eppinga on 1-13-2009 at 05:23 PM · [top]
“We may not agree with what you say or do, but we will defend to the death your right to say it or do it.” Sound familiar, because that’s what they do!
[4] Posted by Cennydd on 1-13-2009 at 05:38 PM · [top]
Possibly they could join with other universalists in TEC and stop such terrible things as sheltering and feeding the homeless. Oh wait. They already did.
[5] Posted by Jackie on 1-13-2009 at 05:48 PM · [top]
I wonder what ACLU lawyers are like in their private lives? If the underage daughter of an ACLU lawyer got pregnant, would the parents first act be to drag her to an abortion clinic? Do they practice what they preach? Inquiring minds want to know.
[6] Posted by Watcher On The Wall on 1-13-2009 at 06:26 PM · [top]
The hypocrisy that is the ACLU is criminal. They “defend to the end” the separation of church and state, which BTW is NOT part of the 1st amendment, but do they defend the 2nd amendment? Hah…
[7] Posted by Amazed&Graced; on 1-13-2009 at 07:19 PM · [top]
#6 Watcher On The Wall,
The LORD, by providence, deleted my last reply when He allowed my ISP connection to be dropped, so I’ll take the hint and edit down my reply.
The short answer from one close enough to the DC elite (friends with the daughter of a former president of NOW) is that their family lives are a mess. I’d point you to Romans 12:14-21 and Eph 6:12. This is not a rebuke to yo, rather a request that you pray for us Christians in places of influence, such as DC, even though I am a stupid construction worker, I still have influence as do maids and ever other Brother and Sister in Jesus. Also for soften hearts, our message does not good on compacted ground, pray the Lord soften the hearts of the ACLU or any other and that we who can bear witness stop being so timid and be bold to speak the Truth but dripping in grace of the Love that He has given us.
[8] Posted by Hosea6:6 on 1-14-2009 at 12:02 AM · [top]
It’s a disgrace that the ACLU would rather ignore the real suffering and real abuse that tens thousands of people - mostly young women sold into sex slavery - endure so that a similar number of people - mostly upper middle class white people - won’t suffer from daggers of the mind.
Great civilizations rot from within and this thinking will destroy our civilization. Given the leading alternative today is the barbarism offered by radical mullahs and jihadists I fear the world may be on the brink of a very dark period.
[9] Posted by texex on 1-14-2009 at 12:05 AM · [top]
#9 Brink? Brink? This just in…we are right smack dab in the middle of a dark period. And it’s just starting. Jesus - have mercy on us - forgive us our evil ways.
[10] Posted by B. Hunter on 1-14-2009 at 07:43 AM · [top]
Every great civilization has a period of ascension, some time as king of the hill, then slide into obscurity. The Roman empire started it’s slide when being a soldier was beneath them, and their legions were filled with mercenaries and barbarians. Sound familiar? Welcome to the slide…
[11] Posted by Amazed&Graced; on 1-14-2009 at 08:13 AM · [top]
Is this a new branch of TEC?
[12] Posted by hellcat on 1-14-2009 at 10:59 AM · [top]
It sure looks like it is!
[13] Posted by Cennydd on 1-14-2009 at 11:07 AM · [top]
Appalling. On a similar attack angle, the FOCA legislation may very well cause us to lose 30% of the nation’s hospitals almost immediately ... as US bishops say they will simply close Catholic hospitals rather than provide on demand abortions. As I understand it, this horrendous legislation is coming to a vote in Congress Jan 21-22. If you think TEC is bad, this makes each taxpayer a material supporter of abortion. Congress seems to be on a role with stupid, ill-considered legislation. They recently passed the CPSIA legislation to require testing for lead in all clothing that will effectively shut down used clothing outlets. Where are the poor supposed to buy their clothes now? At The Gap? I hear modification is on the way there. I expect we can expect years more of this sort of poorly thought out legislation.
[14] Posted by monologistos on 1-14-2009 at 11:08 AM · [top]
ACLU qualifications tend toward the following description: twit, tedium, tenacity. Reminds me of one of our esteemed adversaries whose tiny thumbprint tickles us from time to time.
[15] Posted by monologistos on 1-14-2009 at 11:17 AM · [top]
The headline of this post is unfair and dishonest.
The ACLU’s goal is, pretty obviously, to make sure government funds aren’t subject to religion-based restrictions. Writing such a headline is roughly equivalent to the headline, “Catholic Church Seeks to Spread AIDS Around the Globe”.
[16] Posted by ffnjfjff on 1-14-2009 at 11:27 AM · [top]
Hosea6:6,
I completely understand. I’m sorry if I sounded too snide. It wasn’t my intention. It was my conjecture that these people lives were indeed a mess and that their children could suffer for it. Despite all their power & influence, they are just as lost in sin as anyone else. I will indeed pray for people like you who can make a difference in the lives of such people. We see repeatedly in the Bible how the Lord uses the little guy, they everyday working Joe, or Hosea, in your case to make pronouncements to kings & rulers. It is a wondrous thing.
Watcher
[17] Posted by Watcher On The Wall on 1-14-2009 at 11:31 AM · [top]
#16 - I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been heard exactly that from people I meet after they learn I’m Catholic. “I don’t like your pope, his stance on condoms is the cause of AIDS in Africa blah blah” or some close variation thereupon.
[18] Posted by TridentineVirginian on 1-14-2009 at 03:26 PM · [top]
B. Hunter [#10] - I think “brink” is still the right word. The US still has choices to make regarding our own cultural identity and place in the world. The trend is certainly negative, but we’re not a lost cause. My sense is the majority of Americans (and the rest of the world) still believe in American Exceptionalism even if cultural elites do not. There’s still hope.
[19] Posted by texex on 1-15-2009 at 10:14 AM · [top]
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