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President Bush is continuing his campaign to allow taxpayer funds to be used for religious discrimination.  His "faith-based initiatives" seek to grant religious social service providers - who have long provided admirable and essential services to America's communities -- the right to discriminate, proselytize and play by different rules than other charities while spending tax dollars.

If the President is successful, social workers, psychologists, counselors and others seeking to work in tax-funded social service programs could be denied jobs solely because of their faith.

Supporting the good work of faith-based social service providers should not mean abandoning basic American ideals. We must not allow the vital services of faith-based groups to become co-opted by the administration as mere government-funded religion.

The government already can and does work collaboratively with faith-based organizations.  It has long granted tax dollars to religious social service providers that agree not to discriminate in hiring or providing services, and that operate their social services in a secular manner.  These types of religiously affiliated charities do not deny people employment based on faith, nor do they mix religious activity in with their government-funded services.

Federal Lawsuit Challenges District Of Columbia's Funding Of Religious Mission (09/18/2008)
WASHINGTON – The ACLU of the National Capital Area, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit today challenging the District of Columbia's plan to grant more than $12 million in public property and cash to the Central Union Mission, a religious homeless shelter.

Lawsuit Aims To Remove Amendments 7 And 9 From Florida's November Ballot (06/13/2008)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A group of concerned organizations, including The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the ACLU of Florida, filed a lawsuit today in the Circuit Court of the Second Judicial Court in and for Leon County on behalf of a group of Floridians representing parents of public school students, teachers, administrators and concerned citizens. The goal of the lawsuit is to prevent Amendments 7 and 9 from reaching the November ballot.

ACLU Applauds Removal of Unconstitutional "Creation Science" Earmark from Appropriations Bill (10/18/2007)
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union, alongside 33 other religious, civil rights, education, science and advocacy organizations celebrated today as Senator David Vitter (R-LA) withdrew an unconstitutional earmark that would have funded the teaching of creationism in public school science classes. The earmark was added on to the Fiscal Year 2008 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill’s Committee Report.

Federal Court Blocks Louisiana from Funneling Taxpayer Funds to Favored Churches (10/05/2007)
NEW ORLEANS - In a victory for religious liberty, a federal judge today issued an order blocking the payment of taxpayer-funded grants to two Louisiana churches. The court found that "these non-neutral, direct money grants of taxpayer funds to favored houses of worship are clearly unconstitutional." The order comes as a result of a lawsuit filed last month by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Louisiana.

ACLU Challenges Louisiana Law Funneling Taxpayer Funds to Favored Churches (08/13/2007)
NEW ORLEANS – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Louisiana filed a lawsuit today asking a federal judge to halt the payment of state taxpayer money to two Louisiana churches.

Chane v. District of Columbia - Complaint For Declaratory And Injunctive Relief (09/18/2008)

Decision - ACLU of Louisiana v. Blanco, et al. (10/05/2007)

ACLU v. Blanco - Complaint (08/13/2007)

ACLU v. Blanco - Memo in Support of Plaintiff's Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction (08/13/2007)

ACLU of N. Carolina, Matten v. North Carolina Order (05/24/2007)
ACLU of N. Carolina, Matten v. North Carolina Order

ACLU Coalition Letter Urging Restoration of Religious Liberty and Civil Rights Protections in the Faith-Based Initiative (07/10/2008)
As you evaluate and formulate policies on the role that community-based and faith-based organizations should play in providing government-funded social services, we write to urge you to restore religious liberty and civil rights protections into these partnerships. We believe that the policies pursued under the title “Faith-Based Initiative” in recent years lack the proper accountability and constitutional safeguards necessary to preserve the independence of religious organizations and protect the civil rights and religious liberty of the employees and beneficiaries of government-funded programs.

Coalition Letter to Senate regarding "Creation Science" Earmark (10/10/2007)
Dear Senator: We, the undersigned religious, civil rights, education, science, and advocacy organizations write to urge you to remove an earmark from the Fiscal Year 2008 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill’s Committee Report. The Fund for Improvement of Education, under Title III, contains an earmark for uses that, if funded, would be blatantly unconstitutional. The earmark would fund curriculum that promotes teaching creationism in the science classroom, even though uniformly prohibited by federal courts.

SUPPORT BIPARTISAN REAUTHORIZATION OF HEAD START BY OPPOSING ANY ATTEMPT TO REPEAL THIRTY-FIVE YEAR OLD CIVIL RIGHTS PROVISION (04/20/2007)
We, the undersigned religious, civil rights, labor, education, health, and advocacy organizations urge you to support H.R. 1429, bipartisan legislation that would reauthorize the Head Start program, and to oppose any attempt to repeal longstanding critical civil rights protections. As reported out of the House Committee on Education and Labor on a 42-1 bipartisan vote, H.R. 1429 keeps in place a 35-year old civil rights provision that protects over 213,000 Head Start teachers and staff and over 1,360,000 parent volunteers from employment discrimination based on religion in federally-funded positions in Head Start programs.

Oppose Any Attempt to Repeal Longstanding Civil Rights Protections in Head Start (04/19/2007)
On behalf of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), the nation’s oldest, largest, and most diverse civil and human rights coalition, with more than 190 member organizations, we urge you to support H.R. 1429, the Improving Head Start Act of 2007, and oppose any attempt on the House floor to repeal longstanding civil rights protections in the Head Start Program that have been in place since President Nixon signed the law in 1972. We strongly oppose any language that would allow federally funded employment discrimination.* If language repealing civil rights protections is added to the bill either during consideration on the House floor or in the Motion to Recommit, we urge you to oppose final passage of the bill.

Jewish Council for Public Affairs Letter urging Opposition to the "Public Expression of Religion Act" (09/05/2006)

Statement on The Bible in Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide (05/09/2007)

The Mt. Soledad Latin Cross: Q&A (08/24/2006)

The Mt. Soledad Latin Cross (08/24/2006)
The ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties and the ACLU Foundation, through its Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, filed suit in Federal Court in the Southern District of California in August 2006, to contest the Federal government's eminent domain seizure and continued display of the Mt. Soledad Latin cross in San Diego.

ACLU Cases Defending Religious Freedom (08/24/2006)
The ACLU vigorously defends the right of Americans to practice religion. But because the ACLU is often better known for its work preventing the government from promoting and funding selected religious activities, it is often wrongly assumed that the ACLU does not zealously defend the rights of religious believers, including Christians, to practice their religion. The cases below - including several where the ACLU even defended the rights of religious believers to condemn homosexuality or abortion - reveal just how mistaken such assumptions are.

NYCLU Letter to Hevesi (01/14/2004)

The Real Effect of the Bush Administration’s Faith-Based Initiatives on (07/11/2008)
Imagine the outcry if, under the guise of increasing social service programs and resources, an administration sought to fulfill its own partisan political interests using a smokescreen of ‘compassionate conservatism’ and the good intentions of social service advocates.

GOVERNMENT-FUNDED DISCRIMINATION: (07/11/2008)
In the waning days of his administration, President Bush is continuing his campaign to allow taxpayer funds to be used for religious discrimination. His “faith-based initiatives” grant religious social service providers - who have long provided admirable and essential services to America’s communities - the right to discriminate, proselytize and play by different rules than other charities while spending tax dollars.