Posted on 08/13/2010 10:08:54 AM PDT by John Daniels
The imam behind a plan to build a mosque near Ground Zero is set to depart on a multi-country jaunt to the Middle East funded by the State Department -- raising concerns that taxpayers may be helping him with the controversial project's $100 million fund-raising goal.
Feisal Abdul Rauf is taking the publicly funded trip to foster "greater understanding" about Islam and Muslim communities in the United States, the State Department confirmed yesterday.
"He is a distinguished Muslim cleric," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, when asked about the journey, reportedly to include stops in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Qatar.
RAUF "I think we are in the process of arranging for him to travel as part of this program, and it is to foster a greater understanding about the region around the world among Muslim-majority communities," he added.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/feds_funding_zero_imam_mideast_trip_OTq9dmoHpxbaKvJbB4VLGM#ixzz0wVMOzctB
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Hopefully it was a one way ticket.
Separation of church and state? Right—only if you’re Christian.
Welcome to FreeRepublic.
So, taxpayers are being co-opted to pay for a fund-raising trip to other nations in order to secure funds for the construction of a place devoted to the religion of the terrorists who destroyed the World Trade Center and killed thousands of Americans, at the site where this barbaric act of terrorism occurred.
How is that even slightly ethical, or rational? How is that “necessary and proper?”
Since when does the US government fund religous missionary trips?
...by a paid-for trip to the Middle East? They need a "greater understanding" of Islam? Wish the State Department would send the Phelps clan instead for some "missionary work" (never to return from)...
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