This is already a busy 2009 for the American Civil Liberties Union, always at the ready to jump on perceived church-state issues.

Is the Catholic Church forcing victims of sex trafficking to follow its religious guidelines? The Boston Herald says the ACLU makes that accusation in a federal court suit.

According to the complaint, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services contracted with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (a contract worth more than $6 million since 2006) to provide services to trafficking victims but also allowed the Church to prohibit subcontractors providing services from providing "referral for abortion services or contraceptive materials."

The Church views providing such services or referrals for them as cooperating with an "intrinsic evil."

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokesperson for the USCCB, told the Herald:

We will continue to provide those services in the contract that are consistent with our belief in the life and dignity of the human person."

Meanwhile, down in Florida, the Pensacola News Journal reports that Santa Rosa County officials have admitted liability in an ACLU lawsuit claiming the officials sponsored school prayer, promoted prayer at school events, even held those events in churches although other facilities were available.

U.S. District Court Judge Casey Rodgers ruled last week after the School Board, the superintendent and the Pace High School principal admitted such actions as teachers and staff preaching about "Judgment Day with the Lord" in high school classrooms and "offering Bible readings and biblical interpretations during student meetings."

Although those activities are now under injunction, the newspaper story quotes a local resident saying she is saddened because she thinks people can no longer pray in school.

Of course, they can pray and read the Bible in school. But staff and teachers cannot initiate or lead it or require students to attend prayer or church-related events. Most school systems got that message years ago. What's allowed is spelled out in the News Journal.

My questions tend to focus less on the law than on the individuals who may be affected by these suits: