Contempt Motion Against LA Abstinence Program Denied

Last Thursday, a Louisiana federal district court denied a motion by the ACLU of Louisiana to hold the Governor's Program on Abstinence in contempt of a 2002 order to keep religion out of the program. The Associated Press this week reports that the challenge was based on material on the program's web site in a question and answer section, and in a "Wedding Skit" on the website. The "Ask the Experts" section contained statements such as: "Abstaining from sex until entering a loving marriage will... [make you] really, truly, 'cool' in God's eyes." In his opinion in ACLU of Louisiana v. Foster, Judge Porteous found that the main purpose of the material on the web site was not to advance religion, and that it did not create excessive entanglement of government with religion.