Metro Voice News Celebrating Faith, Family & Community
The Biden administration is giving millions of dollars to international “organizations committed to the practice and spread of atheism and humanism.”
The grants, which amount to $500,000 each for foreign groups, is being challenged by House Republicans. Chairman Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and 15 GOP House members say the grants by the U.S. State Department are illegal. They outlined their conclusions in a June 30 letter to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken concerning the department’s competitive grant process issued in April 2021
The GOP letter states, “To be clear, atheism and ‘humanism’ are official belief systems.
“As an initial matter, therefore, we would like to know what other United States government programs supported with appropriated funds are being used either to encourage, inculcate, or to disparage any official belief system—atheist, humanist, Christian, Muslim, or otherwise,” Banks and the other signers told Blinken.
“It is one thing for the department to be tolerant and respectful of a wide range of belief systems, and to encourage governments to respect the religious freedom interests of their citizens. It is quite another for the United States government to work actively to empower atheists, humanists, non-practicing, and non-affiliated in public decision-making,” the signers continued.
“Any such program—for any religiously-identifiable group—in the United States would be unconstitutional.
“In addition to its constitutionally dubious legal foundation, we also question how such a grant or cooperative agreement program advances the foreign policy interests of the United States,” the signers wrote.
The funding provided by the Biden administration to the organizations selected by the department are used to support building “networks and advocacy groups” for atheists, according to the official notice.
But the GOP letter says the State Department was, in fact, building a “missionary network,” of atheists.
The controversy comes as the Biden administration has been called out for flying a Black Lives Matter flag on at the U.S. Embassy in Germany and an LGBT pride flag at the U.S. Vatican City Embassy.
–Metro Voice and Wire services
