THE GOVERNMENT CONFISCATES YOUR MONEY TO BUILD MOSQUES :ANDREW McCARTHY
NRO — The Corner
The Government Confiscates Your Money to Build Mosques
August 11, 2010 8:30 AM By Andy McCarthy
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/243008/government-confiscates-your-money-build-mosques-andy-mccarthy
Interesting news in a Washington Times editorial this morning. It is all worth reading, including the first part, which deals with the strong evidence that, in funding Imam Feisal Rauf’s sojourn to the Arabian Peninsula, the State Department is effectively paying for him to raise funds for the Ground Zero mosque project — broadly opposed by Americans who are also being kept in the dark about its financing.
Then there’s the next part of the editorial:
Americans also may be surprised to learn that the United States has been an active participant in mosque construction projects overseas. In April, U.S. Ambassador to Tanzania Alfonso E. Lenhardt helped cut the ribbon at the 12th-century Kizimkazi Mosque, which was refurbished with assistance from the United States under a program to preserve culturally significant buildings. The U.S. government also helped save the Amr Ebn El Aas Mosque in Cairo, which dates back to 642. The mosque’s namesake was the Muslim conqueror of Christian Egypt, who built the structure on the site where he had pitched his tent before doing battle with the country’s Byzantine rulers. For those who think the Ground Zero Mosque is an example of “Muslim triumphalism†glorifying conquest, the Amr Ebn El Aas Mosque is an example of such a monument – and one paid for with U.S. taxpayer funds.
The mosques being rebuilt by the United States are used for religious worship, which raises important First Amendment questions. U.S. taxpayer money should not be used to preserve and promote Islam, even abroad. In July 2009, the Office of the Inspector General published an audit of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) faith-based and community initiatives that examined whether government funds were being used for religious activities. The auditors found that while USAID was funding some religious activities, officials were “uncertain of whether such uses of Agency funding violate Agency regulations or the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution†when balanced against foreign-policy objectives.
For example, our government rebuilt the Al Shuhada Mosque in Fallujah, Iraq, expecting such benefits as “stimulating the economy, enhancing a sense of pride in the community, reducing opposition to international relief organizations operating in Fallujah, and reducing incentives among young men to participate in violence or insurgent groups.†But Section 205.1(d) of title 22 of the Code of Federal Regulations prohibits USAID funds from being used for the rehabilitation of structures to the extent that those structures are used for “inherently religious activities.†It is impossible to separate religion from a mosque; any such projects will necessarily support Islam.
There is no good reason for our government to be doing “Muslim outreach.†The State Department’s chosen emissaries — folks like Rauf and Abdurrahman Alamoudi (now serving a 23-year prison sentence) — are not representative of American opinion (there are already plenty of people in the Gulf happy to trash the United States, we don’t need to add to their number). If we’re looking to cut useless spending, “Muslim outreach†would be an excellent place to start.
That aside, though, someone in Congress needs to get to the bottom of whether this government is also underwriting Islamic religious institutions, and doing so in violation of U.S. law. And wholly apart from questions of legality and utility, Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states Rauf is visiting are swimming in petro-dollars — why can’t they fund icons of Islamic supremacism on their own . . . maybe using the money they’d otherwise spend on the hate literature they produce for American Islamic centers?
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