The lawsuit is another challenge to the Bush administration’s efforts to channel money for social services to religious organizations. While religious groups are not barred from getting public money, such financing can only be used for secular purposes, not “worship, religious instruction or proselytization,” according to government guidelines.
Americans United, a watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., filed the lawsuit in Federal District Court in Tacoma, Wash., on behalf of 13 state residents. They object to federal funds being used to support the Northwest Marriage Institute, which states in its newsletter that it offers “Bible-based premarital and marriage counseling.” The institute, in Vancouver, Wash., received $97,750 in federal grants in 2005 from the Department of Health and Human Services.
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