March 24, 2011 by Lawrence

FACTCHECK: Funding Mosques Overseas

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Funding Mosques Overseas

March 10, 2011
Corrected: March 18, 2011
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Q: Is President Obama using tax dollars to rebuild mosques around the
world?

A: Yes — and to rebuild historic churches and temples as well. The
State Department’s program to preserve overseas cultural landmarks
started funding projects under President Bush in 2001.

FULL QUESTION

A mass [18]e-mail sent out by the Christian, conservative [19]American
Family Association claims that Obama is giving foreign aid to overseas
mosques.

Obama gives your tax dollars to rebuild Muslim mosques around the
world. While millions of Americans struggle to keep their homes and
jobs, President Barack Obama can’t give your tax dollars away fast
enough. [20]⬐ Click to expand/collapse the full text ⬏

August 26, 2010

Dear XXXX,

US taxpayer dollars are being given away to help rebuild Islamic
mosques overseas. According to the Associated Press, the Obama
administration will give away nearly $6 million of American tax dollars
to restore 63 historic and cultural sites, including Islamic mosques
and minarets, in 55 nations. See the State Department document
[21]here.

This is an outrage! Our country is broke. And can you imagine what the
ACLU and others on the secular left would say if these monies had been
spent to repair Christian churches? They would be screaming “separation
of church and state!” Funding Islam on foreign soil with American
taxpayer money? Not a whimper.

The latest taxpayer givaway includes $76,000 for a 16thcentury mosque
in China, $67,000 for a mosque in Pakistan,$77,000 to restore minarets
in Nigeria and Mauritania, and$50,000 for an Islamic Monument in India.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the U.S. program to
restore Islamic and other cultural sites in other countries is taxpayer
money well spent.

Take Action
Contact your member of Congress today!

FULL ANSWER

Although this chain e-mail first appeared months ago, we have received
a large number of inquiries about it recently, as Congress debates cuts
in federal spending. It started when the American Family Association
sent an e-mail to supporters and posted an item [22]on its website
claiming that “Obama gives your tax dollars to rebuild Muslim mosques
around the world.”

The message points to a State Department [23]document that lists
recipients of the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation
Awards in 2010. According to the State Department [24]website, the
Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation “provides direct grant
support for the preservation of cultural sites, cultural objects, and
collections, as well as forms of traditional cultural expression, in
eligible countries around the world.” U.S. ambassadors nominate
projects to be funded.

But the program isn’t the brainchild of President Barack Obama. The
program was created by Congress in late 2000 under President Bill
Clinton, and the first grants were announced under President George W.
Bush in 2001. The State Department [25]says that, in total, the fund
has contributed nearly $26 million to approximately 640 cultural
heritage sites in more than 100 countries, and more than half was given
before Obama took office.

It’s true that mosques are among the cultural sites that have received
grant money under this program. But temples and churches around the
world also have received funding, contrary to AFA’s claim that the
“secular left” would be upset if “these monies had been spent to repair
Christian churches.” When we searched the State Department’s
[26]database and lists of [27]2009 and 2010 projects for “mosque” and
“minaret,” we found that 30 mosques or minaret restoration projects had
received funding under Bush, and seven such sites had been funded under
Obama. Also, 29 projects for churches and cathedrals were funded under
Bush and 13 under Obama. Those totals do not represent all Christian or
Islamic historical and cultural sites, however — our search for
“mosque,” for instance wouldn’t pull up funding for an Islamic monument
or conservation of ancient manuscripts, and our search for “church”
didn’t pull up restoration of convents or monasteries. Plus — as anyone
who has visited the [28]Hagia Sophia in Istanbul or the [29]Mezquita, a
mosque and cathedral in Cordoba, Spain, could tell you — there are many
ancient sites that were Islamic and Christian places of worship at
different points in time. In fact, our searches of “mosque” and
“church” both pulled up the [30]$33,455 awarded to the 14th century
Mosque of Old Dongola in Sudan, which was a church in the 9th century.
And [31]one of the “cathedral” projects in Uganda under Bush was the
documentation of “historic buildings,” including “cultural sites,
unique architectural designs, cathedrals, Hindu temples, mosques, state
buildings and ancestral homes,” according to the State Department
database.

The AFA e-mail points out that the State Department gave $76,000 to
help restore a 16th century mosque in China in 2010 (the amount was
$76,135), but it doesn’t mention that the document it links to also
lists $72,600 that went to an Episcopal basilica in Macedonia to help
with the conservation of early Christian frescoes. AFA says that a
mosque in Pakistan got $67,000 — actually it was $67,500 — but doesn’t
mention an $81,990 grant for “Restoration of the Late 17th‐Century
Church of the Icon of the Mother of God of the Sign” in the Russian
Federation, or $94,827 to restore a high altar and cloister of an 18th
century convent in Guatemala City. Among the State Department’s “large
grants” is $625,000 for the Church of the Holy Redeemer in Turkey.

The AFA says that the Associated Press reported on this program to fund
cultural sites, including mosques. And the AP did [32]report in August
that “the Obama administration will spend nearly $6 million to restore
63 historic and cultural sites, including mosques and minarets, in 55
nations, according to State Department documents.” But that article
cast the mosque-funding as “part of the U.S. government’s efforts to
reach out to the Muslim world,” and the AP said the amount spent on
Muslim sites was a “fraction of the total” given to worldwide cultural
sites.

AP, Aug. 24, 2010: The amount spent on mosque restoration projects
is a fraction of the total in the 2010 Ambassadors Fund for Cultural
Preservation, which also will fund projects to restore Christian and
Buddhist sites as well as museums, forts and palaces.

Fuzzy Reporting

Many readers also asked us about U.S. funding of mosque restoration
after an Atlanta television news station, WSB-TV, [33]reported in
November that “the State Department is sending hundreds of millions of
dollars to save mosques overseas.” News anchor Justin Farmer said that
the State Department’s Agency for International Development gave money
to mosques in Cairo, Cyprus, Tajikistan and Mali. He said that the
money given to the Cairo mosque was “part of” a $770 million program to
fix the city’s sewer system.

We spoke with a USAID official, who told us that the Cairo sewer
project, which did total about $770 million, began in 1984 and ended in
2006. It was a major undertaking that wasn’t specifically directed to
the mosque, though about $2.3 million was used “to help lower the
groundwater at the mosque area, replacing the old sewage collector, and
providing a healthier environment for people living in the area,” the
official, who would not be identified by name, said.

USAID official: A high level of groundwater, resulting in part from
leaking sewers and the rise and fall of the Nile, had been
threatening the structural integrity of many of the buildings in
this area. USAID did not pick and choose which buildings to rescue,
based on religious or any other criteria. Rather, the broad effort
was intended to improve the sewage system for everyone.

The USAID site includes information on the [34]$2.3 million spent on
the 1,000-year-old mosque, as well as more than $15 million allocated
by USAID and the Egyptian government to restore a [35]1,300-year-old
mosque, along with a [36]Roman tower, a [37]Greek Orthodox church and
other buildings.

In Cyprus, [38]$5 million was given to restore a mosque and a Greek
Orthodox monastery, a [39]project that ended in 2006. The [40]Mali and
[41]Tajikistan projects involved funding for computer equipment.

So how did WSB-TV come up with “hundreds of millions” for mosques
overseas? We contacted the station and were put in touch with Brad
Stone, who researched the story. He told us the story covered “both
past and present projects,” including the Cairo sewer program. But, as
we said, the scope of that project went well beyond the mosques, and
ended years ago. The WSB-TV story was about finding ways to cut current
spending.

We don’t know how much USAID spent in 2010 for projects that benefit
mosques. The agency says it obligated [42]$18.8 billion for the fiscal
year for all projects The official we contacted said that other mosques
that have benefited from USAID money over the years were funded for
“secular purposes, such as restoring historic and cultural sites and
structures or reducing social conflict by creating opportunities for
at-risk youth to channel their energies into productive endeavors. … In
addition, faith-based organizations and religious groups are valued
partners in USAID’s humanitarian relief and development work.”

We take no stance on whether or not the State Department should give
grants to cultural sites overseas, whether they are mosques, churches,
temples or other historical structures. But the AFA e-mail linking
Obama to the funding of mosques is misleading, and the Atlanta news
report gives a false impression.

– Lori Robertson and Lauren Hitt

Correction, March 18: We originally wrote that the Ambassadors Fund for
Cultural Preservation was “created by Congress in 2001 under President
George W. Bush.” Congress created the program in fiscal 2001, when
President Bill Clinton was still in office. The first grants were
announced after Bush became president.

Sources

FactCheck.org interview and e-mails with USAID official. 9 and 10 Mar
2011.

U.S. State Department. “[43]U.S. AMBASSADORS FUND FOR CULTURAL
PRESERVATION 2010 AWARDS.” accessed 10 Mar 2011.

U.S. State Department. “[44]U.S. AMBASSADORS FUND FOR CULTURAL
PRESERVATION 2009 AWARDS.” accessed 10 Mar 2011.

U.S. State Department website. [45]Ambassadors Fund for Cultural
Preservation page. accessed 10 Mar 2011.

U.S. State Department website. [46]Ambassadors Fund for Cultural
Preservation searchable projects list. accessed 10 Mar 2011.

Associated Press. “[47]US helps fund mosque, minaret restoration around
the world as part of cultural outreach.” FoxNews.com 24 Aug 2010.

WSBTV.com. “[48]Mosque Makeovers With Your Tax Dollars.” 11 Nov 2010.

USAID site. [49]Telling Our Story, Middle East archive. accessed 10 Mar
2010.

USAID. “[50]USAID-Financed Restoration of Church and Mosque on Cyprus
Supports Cultural Heritage and Tolerance.” press release. 5 July 2002.

USAID. [51]Telling Our Story, Before & After, Restoring an Historic
Mosque. accessed 10 Mar 2010.

USAID. Telling Our Story, [52]Bridging the Digital Divide in Ancient
Culture. accessed 10 Mar 2010.

USAID. [53]Tajikistan Success Story. accessed 10 Mar 2010.

USAID. [54]Where does USAID’s Money Go? accessed 10 Mar 2010.

Stone, Brad. WSB-TV News. E-mails to FactCheck.org. 10 Mar 2010.

Posted by [55]Lori Robertson on Thursday, March 10, 2011 at 6:08 pm
Filed under [56]Ask FactCheck · Tagged with [57]mosques, [58]State
Department

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Lawrence's Corner

Just some bits I've been working on

FACTCHECK: Funding Mosques Overseas

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