"No sexual abuse allegations at Teen Challenge? Bull crap!"

This was posted by Cameron at- http://www.topix.net/forum/city/minneapolis-mn/TN94VATH520HE9UQM/p10#lastPost

"No sexual abuse allegations at Teen Challenge? Bull crap!"

http://www.tfn.org/religiousfreedom/faithbased/teenchallenge/

"There is no question that eliminating basic health and safety standards made operations easier for a few faith-based programs in Texas, however the lack of minimum standards has threatened the safety of those participating in the program. In 1998, a boy filed suit against Dallas Teen Challenge Boys Ranch and Assemblies of God, alleging that a counselor, who was a convicted drug trafficker, sexually molested him and two other boys. The lawsuit also claimed that the ranch’s Executive Director, the church and the ranch’s board knowingly hired people with criminal histories to serve as counselors." (Austin American-Statesman, 5/13/1998)

More here: http://www.texnews.com/1998/texas/molest0513.html

FYI:
http://www.schaler.net/inthenews/washblade.html
"Texas Freedom Network, a 23,000-member non-partisan grassroots watchdog group based in Austin conducted a five-year study of the policy and found, “As exempt faith-based drug treatment centers, [such] facilities are not required to have licensed chemical dependency counselors, conduct staff training or criminal background checks, protect client confidentiality rights, adhere to state health and safety standards, or report abuse, neglect, emergencies and medication errors.”

CAMERON ALSO E-MAILED THIS TO ME TODAY-

"And if you really want to have a look at sexual abuse cases involving the Assemblies of God Church (which runs all Teen Challenge programs) have a look at this page!" - http://sportsforum.ws/the-tavern/t-the-official-post-all-your-stupid-religious-propaganda-shit-in-here-thread-153972.html

Note- The original source for the above page is here: http://reformation.com/

Teen Challenge's Primary Purpose

This excerpt is from the Proselytizing Report: "Teen Challenge" -

"Mr. Soemo (Phoenix Center Director for "Teen Challenge") openly admitted that the primary purpose of Teen Challenge is the promotion of a specific religious belief system. He made it clear his focus is conversion." "In conclusion, Teen Challenge represents a direct violation of the guidelines of our religious manual which preclude any "proselytizing."

An organization, which has as it's primary goal "confrontational evangelism," obviously has no place within ADOC religious programs. Unlike Christian denominations, which may contain an evangelical message within the context of their denominational liturgical service, this organization has confrontational evangelism as its stated goal and essentially its only function.

Chaplains throughout the ADOC are expected to facilitate religious programming in a neutral, non-biased manner. Teen Challenge therefore presents an obvious problem. Any chaplain who engages in facilitating a program for this organization could easily be seen as assisting in proselytizing."