Now There Is A Twist In Alcohol Rehab As Faith-based Rehab Sparks Trouble

So what is the issue of religion and alcohol rehabbilitaion really all about? The following report includes some fascinating information about the issue of religion and alcohol rehabbilitaion--info you can use, not just the old stuff they used to tell you.

Faith-based rehab sparks group's suit

By S.V. Dáte

Saturday, May 19, 2007

TALLAHASSEE — A group that advocates for separation of church and state is suing Florida over the use of "faith-based" drug and alcohol abuse programs for released inmates.

The Amherst, N.Y.-based Council for Secular Humanism and two of its Florida members filed suit Thursday in Leon County Circuit Court to stop the Department of Corrections from paying Prisoners of Christ and Lamb of God Ministries for housing and substance-abuse programs.


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The nonprofits receive two of the dozens of contracts through the Corrections, Health and Juvenile Justice departments specifically earmarked for "faith-based" groups, said Robert Rivas, the council's Tallahassee lawyer.

The state constitution specifically prohibits state money from being spent "directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution." Rivas said faith-based programs violate that mandate.

The contract with the Lamb of God Ministries calls for "support services that include a faith-based component incorporating elements of moral challenge and spiritual renewal." The contract also states that participation in the program is voluntary but that "all enrolled program participants shall be required to participate in program activities and abide by program rules."

Department spokesman Robby Cunningham said the contracts also state that they were granted for the "sole purpose of furthering the secular goals of criminal rehabilitation, the successful reintegration of offenders into the community, and the reduction of recidivism."

The contract also prevents the groups from using inmates' beliefs to keep them out of the program or from trying to convert them to a particular faith.

Phone calls to Prisoners of Christ, in Jacksonville, and Lamb of God Ministries, in Okeechobee, were not returned Friday.

The Council for Secular Humanism filed a similar suit in 2005 but withdrew it in anticipation of a Florida Supreme Court review of then-Gov. Jeb Bush's school voucher program. That court struck down the program on the grounds that lawmakers had no authority to establish a private-school voucher system outside of the public schools.

The ruling left standing an earlier decision by the 1st District Court of Appeal, which had ruled against vouchers.



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Source: PalmBeachPost.Com