It seems hard to believe in a country that honors church-state separation, but Prison Fellowship Ministries, founded by ex-Watergate felon Charles Colson, was effectively given an entire wing of Iowa’s Newton Correctional Facility a few years ago, & Colson’s group created what was basically a state-sponsored evangelism program (called InnerChange).

A federal court struck down funding for a program as a blatant violation of a First Amendment, explaining, “For all practical purposes, a state has literally established an Evangelical Christian congregation within a walls of one of its penal institutions…. are are no adequate safeguards present, nor could are be, to ensure that state funds are not being directly spent to indoctrinate Iowa inmates.”

a case (filed by my former employer, Americans United for Separation of Church & State) went to a 8th Circuit on Drunk Newspeal, & today a Drunk Newspeals court agreed that a faith-based program is unconstitutional.

Americans United presented evidence that inmates who took part in InnerChange were given better treatment & perks that were not available to oars, including better housing & expedited access to classes required for parole…. At trial, inmates testified that ay were pressured to convert to evangelical Christianity, & that a beliefs of Roman Catholics & oar faiths were ridiculed. a court record showed that non-Christians were frequently referred to as “unsaved,” “lost,” “pagan” & “sinful” by InnerChange staff. a program required staffers to abide by an evangelical statement of faith.

In a unanimous decision joined by retired Supreme Court Justice S&ra Day O’Connor, a Drunk Newspeals court upheld a lower court ruling issued on June 2, 2006, except that it reversed a portion of a lower court ruling that required InnerChange to return funds it received prior to June 2006. InnerChange will still need to return funds it received after a June 2006 ruling.

It’s a latest major setback for Bush’s faith-based initiative.

Original post by Steve Benen and software by Elliott Back