{"id":1585357,"date":"2022-08-02T16:25:24","date_gmt":"2022-08-02T20:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1585357"},"modified":"2022-08-02T16:25:38","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T20:25:38","slug":"exclusive-house-republicans-demand-briefing-on-grant-program-for-atheist-and-humanist-organizations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-house-republicans-demand-briefing-on-grant-program-for-atheist-and-humanist-organizations\/","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: House Republicans Demand Briefing On Grant Program For \u2018Atheist\u2019 And \u2018Humanist\u2019 Organizations"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fexclusive-house-republicans-demand-briefing-on-grant-program-for-atheist-and-humanist-organizations%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1585357&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/jim-banks-scaled-e1659466368460.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Republicans in the House of Representatives are demanding a briefing on a State Department grant program made available to groups supporting atheists and humanists.<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/statements-of-interest-requests-for-proposals-and-notices-of-funding-opportunity\/drl-fy20-irf-promoting-and-defending-religious-freedom-inclusive-of-atheist-humanist-non-practicing-and-non-affiliated-individuals\/\">announced<\/a> in April 2021 that the State Department would distribute grants of $500,000 to groups in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central and South Asia dedicated to \u201ccombat[ing] discrimination, harassment and abuses against atheist, humanist, non-practicing and non-affiliated individuals of all religious communities by strengthening networks among these communities and providing organizational training and resources.\u201d Republicans previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/07\/01\/representatives-demand-answers-from-state-department-for-funding-atheism-abroad\/\">argued<\/a> that providing money to \u201creligiously-identifiable\u201d groups would be unconstitutional in the U.S. and requested a breakdown of the program\u2019s expenditures.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Americans deserve to know<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">why the State Department is committed to spreading atheism abroad, <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">and which forei<\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">gn, anti<\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">\u2013<\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">religious groups<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">are receiving their tax dollars,\u201d 18 members of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), led by Chairman Jim Banks, wrote Tuesday to Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a letter obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201c<span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">We<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">would<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">also<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">like to request a<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">phone<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">briefing from the<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Acting Assistant Secretary for <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Lisa Peterson<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">to Republican Study Committee (RSC) <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">members and staff<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">as soon as possible to<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">discuss our grave concerns with regard to this<\/span> <span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">grant <\/span><span dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\">program,\u201d they added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Read the letter here:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"View Banks letter final on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/585250248\/Banks-letter-final#from_embed\">Banks letter final<\/a> by <a title=\"View Michael Ginsberg&#039;s profile on Scribd\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/user\/548087574\/Michael-Ginsberg#from_embed\">Michael Ginsberg<\/a> on Scribd<\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for the State Department did not respond to the Daily Caller\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans have repeatedly expressed concern that the Biden administration is promoting left-wing cultural initiatives with foreign policy dollars. Notably, the federal government <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/02\/17\/special-inspector-general-afghanistan-report-gender-equality-women-aid-700-million\/\">spent<\/a> nearly $800 billion on gender equality programs in Afghanistan since 2002, despite inspector general reports finding that the programs were failing due to \u201csociocultural norms.\u201d The State Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/appointment-of-desiree-cormier-smith-as-the-special-representative-for-racial-equity-and-justice\/\">appointed<\/a> a Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice on June 17, with the goal of ensuring that racial equity is a part of all foreign policy initiatives.<\/p>\n<p>Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/03\/08\/biden-2-6-billion-promote-gender-equality-worldwide\/\">requested<\/a> $2.6 billion as part of the FY2023 Budget for programs designed to promote gender equality worldwide. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2022\/06\/08\/exclusive-state-department-prepares-to-announce-worldwide-racial-equity-chief-leaked-email-shows\/\">(RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: State Department Prepares To Announce Worldwide Racial Equity Chief, Leaked Email Shows)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Biden State Department is hiding the extent of its woke radicalism. Their inexcusable support for atheist groups in Central Asia puts them in league with the Chinese Communist Party and violates Americans\u2019 core principles. When Republicans retake the majority, we need to stop the radical left from spending Americans\u2019 tax dollars on anti-American initiatives,\u201d Banks told the Daily Caller.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republicans in the House of Representatives are demanding a briefing on a State Department grant program made available to groups supporting atheists and humanists.The Biden administration announced in April 2021<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1585357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1585357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1585357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1585357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1585357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1585357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1585357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}