State Department officials are continuing to refuse House Republican demands for information regarding grants of U.S. tax dollars to advance atheism in foreign countries, according to Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.).
Banks, who is chairman of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), expressed frustration with a lengthy Dec. 1 telephone conference call with Mariah Mercer, an assistant to Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Rashad Hussain.
Hussain heads the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom (OIRF). The OIRF’s mission is to promote “universal respect for freedom of religion or belief for all as a core objective of U.S. foreign policy. We monitor religiously motivated abuses, harassment, and discrimination worldwide, and recommend, develop, and implement policies and programs to address these concerns.”…