A Pittsburgh-area organization dedicated to abstinence education has lost $75,000 in federal funding as part of a settlement of a lawsuit alleging that the group's activities violated the First Amendment.

The Silver Ring Thing, based in Moon, has received more than $1 million in federal funding over the past three years.

The group -- which operates worldwide -- advocates abstinence through lavish three-hour sound-and-light productions and $12 silver rings, which signify a pledge to remain virginal until marriage.

In May, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against the federal government in U.S. District Court in Boston, charging that it was allowing the Silver Ring Thing to use public tax money for primarily religious purposes. The suit charged that there was no secular component to Silver Ring Thing activities, which violated federal standards for faith-based organizations and the First Amendment.

Under terms of a settlement reached yesterday between the ACLU and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Silver Ring Thing won't be eligible for any more federal funding unless it changes its program to ensure the money isn't used for religious purposes.

Barb Feige, director of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Pennsylvania ACLU, applauded the settlement yesterday. "It's what we were asking for in the lawsuit, that they stop funding a program that clearly had religious content and did not have a secular equivalent."

Employees of the Silver Ring Thing could not be reached yesterday.

The Department of Health and Human Services suspended funding for the program in August. In a letter to Silver Ring Thing founder Denny Pattyn, a Health and Human Services official wrote that the group might not be correctly separating its secular and religious activities.

HHS officials did not respond yesterday to requests for comment.

The Silver Ring Thing was founded in 1995 by Mr. Pattyn in Yuma, Ariz. In 2000, he moved the program's headquarters to the Pittsburgh area, and affiliated with the Rev. John Guest at Christ Church at Grove Farm in Ohio Township.

Ms. Feige said that she was unaware of any other faith-based groups that had had federal funding pulled for violating secular safeguards.

She said that the ACLU is currently suing another Pennsylvania organization, Firm Foundation, for its lack of secular options in a jail work release program in Bradford County.

"Anybody can do their own religious programming for their own religions, but you can't do it with government funds," said Ms. Feige. "That's a constitutional violation."