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While the Ground Zero mosque controversy continues to swirl it turns out that the State Department has been using federal funds for years to renovate and rehabilitate mosques around the world.
From the Daily Caller
While much attention has been focused on questions surrounding the Ground Zero mosque and the appropriateness of the State Department funding Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s trip to the Middle East, little attention has been given to the fact that U.S. taxpayer money is funding mosque development around the world.
Just a cursory search of the term “mosque” on the State Department’s list of “projects” reveals 26 examples of federal funds going to fund construction, renovation, and rehabilitation of various mosques abroad. The benefiting countries include Bulgaria, Pakistan, Mali, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Benin, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Egypt, Tunisia, the Maldives, Yemen, Turkmenistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Azerbaijan, Sudan, Serbia and Montenegro.
The U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) — which is putting millions toward “heritage preservation” projects in the developing world — financed mosque-related projects in all the aforementioned countries.
In Montenegro, for example, the State Department has funded an effort to restore and conserve the Shadrvan (Fountain) of the Old Mosque in Pljevlja. According to the State Department’s website, without needed repairs there would not be a sufficient place for ritual washing before prayer.
“To support the restoration of a fountain at a 16th-century mosque concurrent with the restoration of the mosque itself. Used for ritual ablutions before prayer, the fountain has deteriorated over time and needs a new wooden octagonal roof, pipes, water-taps, and pavement,” the description of the project reads.
Nicole Thompson, a State Department spokeswoman, told The Daily Caller that the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation is a type of diplomatic effort and outreach, what she says Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calls “soft power.”
“It is helping to preserve our cultural heritage. It is not just to preserve religious structures,” Thompson said. “It is not to preserve a religion. It is to help us as global inhabitants preserve cultures.”
In a document provided on Monday to Indiana Republican Sen. Richard G. Lugar, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, the State Department explained that the practice of funding such projects became acceptable in 2003 when the Justice Department declared that the U.S. Constitution’s Establishment Clause did not preclude federal funds from going to preserve religious structures if they had cultural importance.
The DOJ wrote: “That advice is provided in the following paragraph that appears in every AFCP request for grant proposals… ‘The establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution permits the government to include religious objects and sites within an aid program under certain conditions. For example, an item with a religious connection (including a place of worship) may be the subject of a cultural preservation grant if the item derives its primary significance and is nominated solely on the basis of architectural, artistic, historical or other cultural (not religious) criteria.’”
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has also spent millions reconstructing and financing multiple mosques in Cairo and Cyprus, as well as providing computers for imams in Tajikistan and Mali.
Interestingly, however, according to the Code of Federal Regulations, “USAID funds may not be used for the acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of structures to the extent that those structures are used for inherently religious activities.”
What bothers me more than the State Department using the guise of cultural heritage as an excuse to fund these projects are some of the countries on the list.
For example we are spending taxpayer money to help renovate or rehabilitate mosques in Yemen. This is the very same country that the State Department has issued a travel advisory on due to terrorist activities in Yemen by Al-Qaeda against American interests.
At this rate I wouldn’t be surprised to see Iran or any other country that is anti-American, a state sponsor of terrorism or a perennial violator of human rights receive assistance in the future to help them preserve their “cultural heritage”.
And as much as I would like to pin the blame for this solely on the Obama administration the fact of the matter is that this became acceptable under President Bush post 9/11 is even more bothersome than the some of the questionable countries currently receiving assistance.
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Don Irvine is Chairman of Accuracy in Media. He is active on Facebook and Twitter. You can follow him @donirvine to read his latest thoughts.
9 Comments for State Dept. Funds Mosque Rehab
It’s quite a story, but it’s not very well sourced, is it?
Where exactly did the Daily Caller get this information from? I would assume the State Department website.
But where on the State Department website? The Daily Caller article doesn’t provide any links.
I definitely need something more concrete that what the Daily Caller says.
Trust, but verify – Ronald Reagan
Apparently the latest annual report. Appears to be more mosques than churches. In interest of fairness, note that the awards identified in this report were made during the Bush administration. The U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) was authorized by Congress in 2001 [per the State Dept. website].
For a list of the 2010 awards, see http://exchanges.state.gov/media/pdfs/office-of-policy-and-evaluations/ambassadors-fund/afcp2010list.pdf
Please correct me if I’m wrong,,,but can anyone name ONE of the countries in paragraph 3 that does NOT,,,,NOT already get US Foreign Aid.??
To Vito #2,,You can disagree if you wish,it’s your right,,,but what if it’s
TRUE,,,it’s more OBAMA money down the muslim drain,,& Vito,,you are paying for it.
Pakistan is one of the countries on the list of those receiving funds for Mosque rehab. This is also the country wherein Christians are being blatantly denied help from the Pakistan government for the floods of recent days. “Denied” is probably too light a term. Christians are being barred from receiving any help – food, clean water, shelter, medical assistance – due to the recently flooding of this country. And we, as Americans through our government, turn a blind eye. If it were suggested that federal funds be used to rehab a Christian church anywhere in the world but especially in the United States (and we have several such churches with historical significance) the ACLU, our own Justice Dept. and indeed our president would scream “separation of church and state”. Do we have a death wish or are we so hell-bent on being politically correct and worship at the feet of “diversity” that we have lost our moral compass? We must put the brakes on all forms of so-called “foreign aid” unless and until our government will return jobs to Americans that have been lost to NAFDA and other forms of “social justice”. We need industry back. We need to encourage investment in America before we are bled dry and our ashes are scattered to the winds of time.
@Nancy, a number of Christian churches have been preserved through this program. There are markedly fewer churches than mosques, but this is a program focusing on developing countries. The great churches of Italy, France, England or Germany probably do not need US support to preserve their icons or frescos, but it’s easy to imagine that historic buildings in places like Mali or Eritrea would be lost forever if outside help doesn’t step in. I think this shows the strength of a developed, democratic and multicultural society. The Taliban could not tolerate evidence of Afghanistan’s pre-Islamic heritage, so destroyed the Giant Buddhas, forever denying the world an irreplaceable artifact. On the other hand, the U.S. is willing to help countries preserve their cultural heritage, and has helped restore buildings or documents important to Islam, Christianity, Tao, Buddhism, and Judaism, as well as many items with cultural, but not religious significance.
People need to wake up with what is going on in Washington DC and you states government. We do not owe any country the building of worship centers when we do not here in the USA. I belive I heard something during my 66 years about seperation between Church and State. I guess this is just for the common man and women who pays taxes for everyone else in the world that hates us and never will have anything for the USA. They are coming to the USA and telling us that we will accept their belifes like it are not.
Why are we the Sole supporters of the world? We do not need to spend money outside of this country when we are in debt like we are today. The United Nations is another waste of money and is no benfit to the USA or any other country.
If you would like to send your own money to these countries for their place
of worship be my guest. I wonder sometimes if the president of the USA is running the right country. PS: I paid $3.90 for diesel today to fell up a 34 gallon tank…It should be money coming from Uncle Sam to help pay for this price of fuel, instead we are just helping our enemy…Mr. Prez and Tree Huggers, we do need our oil platforms running again and drilling in the USA. Buy USA, Spend USA and keep it in the USA. I bleed red white and blue so should you…
Vito, just to add to your “IS it true or Not” it has been on TV for a couple of days now….Get your nose out of the Screen and turn on the Big Screen…
Check with the State Department and MS Clinton group and NY City Mosques leader was advising the USA where to send the money. Remeber were there is Smoke there is Fire….They are the Smoking Gun….
You worry about few Mosques here and there. What about the 4 billion dollars that we send yearly to Israel to build illegal settlement on stolen lands? Does anybody care to explain? As Americans we should not to be bigots. We ought to be fair and objective.
My only question is how many churches are being funded as well. If the number is similar or greater, we don’t have a problem. If its less, big problem.