Saturday, July 18, 2009

State Website With Links to "Affirming Churches"

From the Religion Clause blog:

State Agency Removes Website Links To "Open and Affirming" Churches

Connecticut's Department of Children and Families has removed from its website links to "open and affirming" churches-- i.e. churches that welcome gays, lesbians and persons who are bisexual and transgender. Yesterday's Hartford Courant reports that the links were removed after the Family Institute of Connecticut (FIC), a group that opposes same-sex marriage, threatened to sue. It claimed that placing the links on the state agency's website violates the Establishment Clause as well as parental rights. FIC also asked the Department to make sure that the organization training social workers on issues faced by GLBT youth does not provide information on "open and affirming" churches in its training sessions.



Do you agree that these links violate the EC? If not, would you also allow the state to selectively post links to churches with "morally uplifting" views concerning the sinfulness of homosexual conduct? Would it be okay for the state to provide links to churches with Biblically sound doctrines of salvation? Or does neutrality require the state to refrain from endorsing all religious positions on homosexuality?

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