JUDGE IN WISCONSIN VOIDS A RELIGION-BASED INITIATIVE

In a case widely seen as the first legal challenge to the constitutionality
of President Bush's religion-based initiative, a federal court in Wisconsin
has ordered the state to stop giving money to a drug and alcohol addiction
program that relied heavily on Christian spirituality in its approach to
treatment.

The Faith Works program, in a former convent in Milwaukee, was praised by
George W. Bush when he visited the city on a campaign stop in 2000 as the
kind of religion-based program he would like to promote as president.

Faith Works has received nearly $1 million from Wisconsin, much of it
during the tenure of Gov. Tommy G. Thompson, who now serves in President
Bush's cabinet as secretary of health and human services.

In a decision made public late Tuesday, Judge Barbara B. Crabb of Federal
District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin ruled that giving
"unrestricted, direct state funding" to Faith Works amounted to
government-sponsored religious coercion.

"I conclude that the Faith Works program indoctrinates its participants in
religion, primarily through its counselors," the judge wrote. "Religion is
so integral to the Faith Works program that it is not possible to isolate
it from the program as a whole."

Faith Works had contended that the government grants had been used only for
the nonreligious aspects of the program, and that counselors spent no more
than 20 percent of their time discussing spirituality with the clients.

The case was brought by the Freedom from Religion Foundation in Madison, Wis.

Judge Crabb wrote that her decision applied only to Faith Works and was not
intended to challenge the constitutionality of charitable choice, the 1996
federal statute that loosened the restrictions on government financing of
religious programs.

Scholars said the decision was important because it was the first since
charitable choice was passed to declare it unconstitutional for government
money to be used for programs based on overtly religious practices.

"I think this decision is a warning sign that we need to have clearer
guidelines about government aid to religious groups," said Charles C.
Haynes, a senior scholar at the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center in
Arlington, Va.

In one sign of White House interest in the case, Attorney General John
Ashcroft filed an amicus brief on behalf of the defendants. Nonetheless,
Susan Dryden, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, said yesterday that
the case "reaffirms the importance of providing protections to make sure
that federal funds aren't used for religious or proselytizing purposes."

Faith Works was modeled on a New York City shelter program for homeless
heroin addicts, the Bowery Mission Transitional Center, which despite its
evangelical philosophy received more than $1 million in government grants.
The founding statement of Faith Works described the program as a "ministry"
employing a 12-step approach similar to Alcoholics Anonymous, but more
explicitly Christian.

Most of the program's clients are African-American men who live at the
center for up to a year, Jeffrey Figgatt, the executive director, said.

Besides therapy, job training and placement, he said, the program offers
Bible study, prayer meetings, and spiritual counseling, all voluntary.

Faith Works opened in 1999 with two grants totaling $600,000 from a
discretionary fund controlled by Mr. Thompson when he was the Wisconsin
governor. The fund was part of a federal Welfare-to-Work program
administered through the state's Department of Workforce Development. Faith
Works also received money from the state's Department of Corrections to
work with former prisoners.

The judge noted that Faith Works did not exist before it received
government financing. About two-thirds of its money comes from government
financing, which now totals $880,000. The judge ruled that the Workforce
Department must immediately stop financing Faith Works, but said she would
hold a separate trial about the money the group receives from the
Department of Corrections.

The Workforce Department said the government was considering an appeal, but
might also look for ways to change the program to conform with the judge's
order.

"I am fully supportive of the program," Gov. Scott McCallum said at a news
conference on Wednesday. "I will go to bat on this one."