Judge rejects arguments against Louisiana abstinence Web site
In a decision late Thursday, U.S. District Judge Thomas Porteous refused to hold the Governor’s Program on Abstinence in contempt of a 2002 agreement to stop promoting religion with taxpayer money.
Porteous found that the religious references on the site, along with several links to other sites that openly promote prayer and repentance, do not rise to the level of an unconstitutional entanglement of government and religion.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.
Joe Cook, executive director of the Louisiana ACLU, pointed to several references to God connected with the site, including one link that referred to sex outside of marriage as “one sin above all others as the most destructive to your soul and spirit.”
“If telling kids that abstaining from sex will bring them closer to God isn’t religion, I don’t know what is,” Cook said. “Taxpayer money shouldn’t be used to deliver sermons.”
Cook said an appeal was being considered.
In its arguments, the state said material on the main abstinence site was secular and that the religious references in the linked material carried an advisory: “faith-based content.”
The ACLU complained that references to God were on the main site in a question-and-answer section, along with a script for the “Wedding Skit” which features a minister character making reference to God. But the judge said the neither “has the purpose of advancing religion.”
The ACLU had asked for a third party to monitor the site, a move that Porteous rejected.
In July 2002, Porteous found that some money from GPA under then-Gov. Mike Foster were being used to promote religion, including the purchase of Bibles and religious tapes.
Although program officials argued that they had stopped such spending, Porteous issued an order that the program stop giving money to organizations or people that convey religious messages. The state abandoned an appeal and settled in November 2002.
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On the Net:
Louisiana abstinence site: http://www.abstinencedu.com