GOP lawmakers question constitutionality of State Department grants to spread atheism abroad

Republican lawmakers are questioning the constitutionality of a Biden State Department program to fund the spread of atheism and humanism internationally.

At the end of June, a group of 15 Republican members of Congress wrote to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken about a State Department funding program from April 2021 that "would award grants of up to $500,000 to organizations committed to the practice and spread of atheism and humanism, namely in South/Central Asia and in the Middle East/North Africa."

6.30.2022_state_atheism_final.pdf
Noting that both atheism and humanism "are official belief systems," the GOP legislators wrote, "Any such program — for any religiously-identifiable group — in the United States would be unconstitutional."…

…"wake up" and warn Americans of the Biden administration's promotion of atheism.

If the "administration were giving out grants to promote Catholicism" or Mormonism, "the liberals would be up in arms," Grothman argued. "But when we send out grants to promote atheism, the mainstream media, the popular culture, they are quiet."











read more news: https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/biden-state-dept-promoting-atheism-abroad-religion-communists-says-gop










I’m relieved that the alarm has been sounded regarding this violation of our constitution. Just the News investigative reporters report that Republican congress persons are opposing this biden administration action. Atheism and humanism are a form of religious belief. The United States government has no place using our tax dollars to spread such around the world.

 

Congressman Grothman and others are exactly right about what they have been reported as saying.

 

"Congress shall make no law"... Which means if Biden team are doing this, illegally spreads a state sponsored religion. How ironic...

 

Atheism and secular humanism are the state religion when the democrats have power in the national government and they are using it to spread their religion around the world with our tax dollars.

 

Liberals may very well abuse secular humanism(I'm not denying that they do this) but I am saying that fundamentally speaking, secular humanism is not meant to be seen as a counter to religion, but rather a school of moral thought.(such as hedonism is a school of moral thought. In fact, there are tiers of hedonism. There's the destructive hedonism that doesn't care for morality, and there's moral hedonism that recognizes the construct of society within one's pleasurable vices.)

So when the GOP says its a school of thought, they're right about that. But a school of thought doesn't necessarily equate to a religion. Secular humanism has no god, no creed or no concept. If there is a conceptional thought, it is the thought that human lives and our human value system is of top priority and preserving those human traits we all share, independent of our religious views is what's important.

So not a counter per se, in fact you can be a humanist and a Christian or a Buddhist or a Catholic and still remain very much faithful. Because it's not about challenging God, it's about respecting your fellow neighbor on earth.

 

your simple expanation does not fit rightwing dogma.....

 

So, not believing in organized religion is an organized religion? Now that's puzzling.

 

EXACTLY

Lets just all be honest here and admit that these legislatures would be just fine with pushing "Christianity", just not "atheism". Which in the ultimate Irony is the the one thing that federal government IS allowed to do constitutionally....

 

I don't want them spending any of that money outside of the US. I'd be more outraged about that, the fact that it's non-theistic makes little difference.

Just stop wasting money.

 

It is an organized religion.

 

Oh, look! A meme that you've filled in! How convincing.

 

Do you believe people who are not religious and practice no religious faith or not of an "offical religious faith" should be discriminated against by a government?

 

No it is not any more than not believing in unicorns and superheros.

 

Look: politicians taking advantage of the ill informed.
We have an Office of Religious Freedom in the State Department. Voted in UNANIMOUSLY. We have the US commission on International Religious Freedoms. Created specifically to defend religiuos freedom around the world. 23 years of tax payers money dedicated to defending religious freedom and protection against anti semitism, anti christianity, and anti islam. McCarthy and McConell appointed members to the commission recently.
A bunch of blowhard politicians now pretending we don't defend and promote religious freedom around the world. and that it is unconstitutional
You really need to educate yourselves so as to not fall prey to these hukster moments


Also lol that you guys think we don't funnel money to religious organizations here in the US under the guise of social work

 

The US has supported religious freedom in other countries for a long time.

All this seems to do is ensure that a person's right to not be religious at all is included in that fight.

Big deal over nothing, but it ticks the boxes of the boogeyman that the right has been warning it's followers about, so of course they are going to take advantage of the semantics of it.

 

Not so much as this one is…

 

A. I would like to see what the grant is actually doing. I did some research on the Department of State Website using key terms such as "atheism" and "humanism" and found none. Then I did a search for grants in the SE Asian areas and found too many to count.

However, if the idea is to promote religious freedom, shouldn't that also include humanism and atheism? Both are valued belief systems and can be defined as a religion like Christianity, Islam, Shinto, etc. So I am curious what aspect of the US Constitution do these grants violate? It surely cannot be the 1st amendment or religious freedom as SCOTUS has defined.

Or maybe this is 15 Christian Nationalist Republicans who only want to promote Christianity and that is it?

 

Wait - aren't you the same guy who starts thread after thread about how the Constitution doesn't guarantee freedom FROM religion? Then you start
a thread about how the Constitution guarantees freedom from the "religion" of atheism. Whatever, dude.

 

No. It has no "organisation", structure hiérarchie, text or collective.
It is a concept which basically values the human being and his unaided expression of social values which support his existence.
We are what we created and value.
But it can be applied to any cultural or ethnic group because we are all human and we all have values.
Admittedly it might be hard to sell it to those who include human sacrifice in their culture...

 

So you agree that atheism and secular humanism is a religion after all?

 

No, neither atheism nor humanism have churches, church services - regular or otherwise, tithes, sermons, taxes, or tax exemptions, Heaven or Hell.
Atheists believe in one less god than you do. That's all.
Humanists resolve problems through the use of science and reason, rather than looking to religious traditions.

 

Congressman Grothman is an unbelievably ignorant and dishonest person as noted in the article that was posted:
Observing that atheism has long been the shared "religion" of progressives and communists, Grothman said, "[A]s our country becomes more and more close to Communist, as we get more and more progressives in the government, I don't think it should be surprising that Joe Biden wants to educate the world that one of the reasons for our success is, apparently, our belief in atheism."

He urged the "slumbering America clergy" to "wake up" and warn Americans of the Biden administration's promotion of atheism.

Grothman is a gaslighter and has provided zero evidence of his claims.

 

Regardless we should not expend tax payer dollars to persuade people elsewhere to abandon religion. Religious freedom, yes, even to chose none of they want. It’s not our purpose to turn people in other nations into atheists.

 

The West has been doing this to convert the savage to Christianity for centuries.

 

Not believing in organized religion is a real religion. The memes convinced me!