State Department accused of using taxpayer money to promote atheism
House Republican lawmakers on Wednesday accused the State Department of engaging in a “pattern of obfuscation and denial” as it used taxpayer money to promote atheism overseas.
At issue is a $500,000 grant solicited by the department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor in April of 2021 that was eventually awarded to Humanists International (HI), an organization the promotes humanism – an outlook that holds no belief in god, the supernatural, an afterlife or a higher source of moral values.
The State Department maintained for years that the grant money was being used to support religious freedom programs and to encourage tolerance toward religious minority populations overseas, denying that any efforts were being made to recruit people for the humanist cause.
The government agency did not acknowledge any potential misuse of taxpayer funds until last month, after it sent congressional investigators a PowerPoint slide deck purportedly being used by HI in programming in Nepal that the State Department later admitted “were not the actual slides provided at the trainings.”
“We write to address what the Department has now acknowledged were its misrepresentations made to Congress about the scope and nature of programming that – for the first time in US diplomatic history – has sought to promote atheism overseas under the guise of ‘religious freedom,’” Reps. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Chris Smith (R-NJ) and Brian Mast (R-Fla.) wrote in a letter sent to State Department Deputy Secretary Richard Verma on Wednesday.
The lawmakers argued that the State Department misled Congress as it sought to “expand atheist networks abroad in violation of the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution.”
“Indeed, following 15 months of our calling attention to this issue, it was not until April 29, 2024 that the Department finally expressed ‘deep concern’ with the programing, and stated that it will ‘pursue appropriate accountability measures,’” McCaul, Smith and Mast said.
“It is hard to believe Department officials refused to read the words right in front of them, but we are not sure what else may have happened,” they added, noting that the State Department approved text for the program called for participants to “conduct advocacy and membership activities promoting humanism” and to “increase and diversify their membership network.”
The letter highlighted Verma’s congressional testimony from March, during which he asserted, “I have looked at the materials. [Promoting atheism] is not what the grant is for and that is not what the work would be for.”
“We would never authorize such a grant,” the Biden administration official added. “I have seen no evidence of any grant to promote atheism in Nepal.”
Congressional investigators discovered constitutional violations after they obtained slides used at HI presentations in Nepal that differed from the ones previously provided to Congress by the State Department.
“The contents of the slides provided at the trainings, presently in the Committee’s possession, are damning,” the lawmakers wrote.
“To be sure, despite all of the evasions by the Department, it is now plain that the grant promoted atheism and expanded atheist networks abroad, while neglecting Christian and Muslim minorities who, unlike atheists and humanists, face real persecution in the relevant parts of South Asia.”
“Indeed, the programming was designed to recruit new members of the grantee organization in violation of the Establishment Clause of the US Constitution,” they said.
The trio of House Republicans concluded their missive by indicating that they are “skeptical” of the State Department’s insistence that it would “take immediate action” and “recoup misused funds,” but demanded that Verma keep Congress abreast on the agency’s corrective action going forward.
