House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul is also threatening to subpoena the State Department over the grant.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee has subpoenaed a group over not handing over documents to the GOP-led committee related to a $500,000 grant it received from the State Department to promote atheism abroad.
The committee’s chairman, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), announced the subpoena on Aug. 8, citing the group, Humanists International, for not being transparent with Congress.
Humanism is a secular, atheist doctrine. The website for Humanists International describes the creed as
rejecting “supernatural or divine beliefs.”
Humanists International is one of the groups that received funding from the State Department
grant in question, titled “Promoting and Defending Religious Freedom Inclusive of Atheist, Humanist, Non-Practicing and Non-Affiliated Individuals.”
McCaul has been looking to obtain records related to the grant since
August last year.
“For too long, organizations with extreme, ideological agendas—like Humanists International—have been allowed to implement publicly funded programs far from the public eye and with minimal congressional oversight,” said McCaul in
a statementThe Epoch Times has reached out to Humanists International and the State Department for comment about the subpoena.
The committee had given the State Department until Aug. 6 to produce documentation of correspondence between the department and Humanists International.
Humanist International, according to its website, “is the global representative body at the heart of the humanist movement.”
In December 2022, the State Department
declined to hand over documents to House Republicans regarding
grants to organizations advocating atheism abroad. At the time, the GOP was in the minority in the House and, therefore, did not have subpoena power.
A point of
contention regarding the House GOP’s issue with the atheism-related grants is whether they violate the Constitutional clause that “Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
The State Department, like most government entities, gets its funding from Congress.
