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As U.S. promotes abstinence at U.N. children's summit, ACLU sues program for promoting religion
At the United Nations Special Session on Children, the United States is one of the only countries opposing encouragement of abortion and promoting abstinence, says Reuters. At the opening session, U.S. Health Secretary Tommy Thompson said the U.S. continues to support "healthy behaviors and right choices" for children by "strengthening close parent-child relationships, encouraging the delay of sexual activity and supporting abstinence education programs." Speaking more specifically about that last point, he said, "As President Bush has said, abstinence is the only sure way of avoiding sexually transmitted disease, premature pregnancy and the social and personal difficulties attendant to nonmarital sexual activity."

Another delegate, USAID Assistant Administrator for Global Health Anne Peterson, told reporters, "It's not the only answer and it's not the answer for every youth, but it is a clearly a very strong protective factor that many youth are willing to do and really does make a difference."

It's not the most controversial point of the meeting. Only the U.S. and Somalia have refused to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child; the U.S. says it infringes on parents' rights. (President Clinton signed the convention but never submitted it to the Senate.)

Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union plans to file suit against the state of Louisiana for an abstinence education program. The complaint this time isn't the usual claim that abstinence education is ineffective and puts teens at risk—it's that it's too effective—in promoting religion. "With $1.6 million in federal funds annually, the suit contends, Louisiana has spent money on 'Christ-centered' skits, religious youth revivals, and biblical instruction on purity," reports The Washington Post. "One group used the Christmas story of the Virgin Mary to teach abstinence, and the Catholic Diocese of Lafayette spent grant money organizing prayer sessions at abortion clinics."

Governor's aide Dan Richey, coordinator of the abstinence education program, told the paper, "We do not advocate in any way, shape, or form a nonsecular component with any of our contracts. Out of 70 contractors, if one or two or three or four have incorporated the abstinence message with their faith-based message, well, those things happen."

Heresy trial ends when heretic resigns
Remember Andrew Furlong, the Church of Ireland's Dean of Clonmacnoise who faced a heresy trial for denying that Jesus is God, the son of God, or savior of the world? It seems the trial is now off, as he's decided to step down from his ecclesiastical posts. "I have always grieved when I left a parish but I am also grieving for the Church of Ireland because I feel it is missing out," he told The Irish Independent. Indeed, it is missing out. As this was only the second heresy trial in 130 years, the dying church had an opportunity to take a stand for orthodoxy.

Sexual ethics:

• Vicar jilted as rector's wife ends their affair | When the Rev David Shenton gambled everything he had to pursue the relationship, he compared their plight to the parable of the lost sheep. Now he has been left without a flock, a career, and a woman in his life. (The Daily Telegraph, London)
  
  
• Tolerance in schools a homosexual ploy, conservatives say | "Homosexual activists have hijacked our schools," says Concerned Women for America (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Gay father wins case over baby of lesbian | First case of its kind in England and Wales (The Times, London)
  
  

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May (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46