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."