Posted on 04/03/2003 6:52:46 PM PST by Liz
The American Civil Liberties Union asked the Department of Health Thursday to remove some AIDS education brochures from circulation because they are full of Biblical messages.
The pamphlets, with "Florida Department of Health" printed on the cover along with the agency's logo, are titled "A Christian Response to AIDS" and use Biblical passages to urge compassion toward people with AIDS and the HIV virus.
The brochure asks: "How would Jesus respond to a person with HIV or AIDS?" and promises that "Jesus is our Hope." It quotes several Bible passages throughout.
Health Department officials said the pamphlet, which has been around more than a decade, is on a list of AIDS education materials approved by the state for community organizations to use. In some cases the brochures may be directly distributed by the state to the groups, which may use state money to buy them.
The pamphlet, used in several states and published by one of the largest health educational printers in the country, has been criticized elsewhere. Last month, Pennsylvania officials took it off their state's Health Department Web site after the ACLU complained.
In a letter to the Florida Department of Health asking that it stop buying and associating itself with the pamphlet, ACLU of Florida Director Howard Simon said the brochure may have a worthwhile goal, but contains a message that shouldn't be delivered by state government.
"While the state must respond to this public health crisis and find ways to stop the spread of the AIDS virus, the state must base its message on ... medical and scientific information, rather than advocate a particular Christian set of beliefs," Simon wrote to Health Secretary John Agwunobi. "Sectarian messages are inappropriate for agencies of the state."
The brochure was first published in 1990 by the Channing L. Bete Co. of South Deerfield, Mass. and has been "on and off" the state's approved list over the years, said Tom Liberti, chief of the Health Department's HIV/AIDS Bureau.
He said it was approved again in 2000 about the time several church organizations became active in AIDS outreach.
"We'll consult with our attorneys and determine if the points in the ACLU letter are correct and if so, we'll take action," Liberti said.
He said the pamphlet was approved by a review panel that primarily looks at the medical accuracy of the information in the material.
Simon said the ACLU had records showing the agency had not only approved the brochure's use, but had purchased 13,000 of them itself for about $4,500.
Liberti said he couldn't confirm that, but said sometimes the agency buys educational materials to "send them to community organizations or local health departments that request them."
He said the Christian pamphlet was "one of hundreds" approved for community groups and local health departments around the state.
Democratic Sen. Ron Klein of Delray Beach said he'd never seen the brochure but when showed it he said: "We should look into this, and get them to pull it.
"State funds are not supposed to be used for religious teachings," said Klein, who is Jewish.
The Health Department answers to Gov. Jeb Bush, who has promoted the participation of religious organizations in solving some societal problems.
"I sure hope this is not what the governor has in mind by a faith-based initiative," said Simon. "If it is, we're headed for a lot of battles."
Officials in Bush's office referred calls to the Health Department.
Come on ACLU, open up those books. I dare you. In fact, I double-dare you.
If they ever voluntarily released the membership rolls and everyone saw the number of atheists, communists and perverts on it, the ACLU would be run out of town on a rail.
Which, incidentally, is not a bad idea.
They've been getting away with this for much too long. It's time.
Your sentiments are universal.
Your choice of words - impeccable.
The ACLU considers religion a plague, while parents have to contend with garbage films, music and TV spewd out by Hollyweirdos directed at youngsters.
These amoral messages contribute to the cultural morass we live in.
Using the "separation-of-church-and-state" club to force their liberal atrocities on the unsuspecting, the ACLU and their comrades-in-arms have pulled off an amazing corruption of our culture.
The Big Four Christian-baiters are: the ACLU, Planned Parenthood (architect of legalized abortion), Hollywarped Norman Lear's (innocent-sounding) People For the American Way, and last but not least, the Democratic Party (heavily financed by Hollyweirdos).
Someday, someone is going to figure out the ACLU's real agenda (hint: it's not to preserve Americans' civil liberties).
You can say that again.
The ACLU has created and maintained its own reputation of being the greatest threat to this country and its ideals since the USA was founded.
And that is only because most people are afraid of them.
Knowing how many people are with the troops and the President in the war with Iraq, if we just had that same amount of people engaging in protest marches and rallies against the ACLU and their red-diapered doper baby brethren, they would think twice before sticking their nose where it does not belong and leave town.
Only now are people turning their backs on Jesse Jackson, getting to the point he feels it necessary to turn up at anti-Amer....I'm sorry, anti-war rallies just to get the attention he so desperately craves. People are seeing Jackson for what he is: A lying, adulterous, publicity-hounding sleazeball.
Do you think it would be too much to get people like Rush Limbaugh, Dr. Laura, Michael Savage and other popular syndicated radio hosts to focus more on the ACLU and work towards its destruction?
Come to think of it, I do not believe anyone has ever written a book about the ACLU and what it is doing to this country. Perhaps Regnery Press would be interested in something like that.
My current rant is that Bush needs to hand Dims a gift-wrapped package of dynamite wedge issues and Dummycrats anti-religionism -- aided and abetted by the ACLU -- is a good place to start.
It's the Dims dirty little secret----an obsessive hatred for religion and those who espouse it. We can, and will, convincingly label hate-filled Dummycrats as anti-religion fanatics.
Ponder this. The Christian vote is so important that even the venal, corrupt Clintons had to resort to carrying Bibles and going to Sunday services even though it must have nearly killed the evil duo.
The Dims sub-rosa anti-religionism has been brought into sharp relief by the homo marriage issue. Most people oppose homo marriage and it is very significant that nearly all the Dim prez candidates were forced to come out against it even though they genuflect at the altar of the homo agenda.
One way to stick it to the religio-phobic Dummycrats is to stay on the anti-homo marriage message. Bush will put the Dims heretofore hidden anti-religionism under a glaring spotlight.
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