Suit filed against Bible-based marriage efforts

From Evangelical Press News Service

      VANCOUVER, Wash. — A liberal group filed a federal lawsuit Sept. 12 to stop government grants to a Washington state program based in Vancouver that offers Bible-based marriage workshops.
      Americans United for Separation of Church and State, based in Washington, D.C., says the government violated the Constitution when it awarded what it calls the “fundamentalist Christian” Northwest Marriage Institute two federal grants worth $97,750 last year.
      The Rev. Barry Lynn, who heads Americans United, told Religion News Service the lawsuit could have “important national implications because the Bush administration is promoting massive federal funding for marriage programs.”
      Lynn is referring to the more than $2 billion the federal government gave to faith-based social service organizations in 2005, according to the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives. In addition, Congress is setting aside $500 million over the next five years to promote marriage.

    The Northwest Marriage Institute received grants through the Department of Health and Human Services. Northwest Marriage is run by Bob Whiddon Jr., a former Church of Christ pastor.
    “We are a faith-based organization and we do provide faith-based counseling. ... I use the Bible as my counseling manual,” Whiddon said.
Lynn’s group wants the grant money returned with interest and further federal money to the institute banned.
     Joel Oster, senior legal analyst for the Alliance Defense Fund, is representing the Marriage Institute and acknowledges the group “is run by Christians and they have a Christian purpose.”
     But “marriage counseling and protecting marriages is not something that’s inherently Christian,” he noted. “That is just solid, fundamental American principles.”
     Whiddon said the government grant funded “capacity building” and not direct education. The institute bought office equipment and hired a consultant and a federal-grant specialist.
     This is Americans United's first lawsuit over federal funding, said Joe Conn, an Americans United spokesman. The group is involved in three other lawsuits over state funding, In June a federal judge ruled in favor of Americans United against a state-funded prison ministry program in Iowa.