U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and other members of Congress are demanding answers about a State Department plan to fund projects supporting atheism abroad.

The State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor announced a funding opportunity last April for projects to “combat discrimination, harassment and abuses against atheist, humanist, non-practicing and non-affiliated individuals of all religious communities by strengthening networks among these communities and providing organizational training and resources.”

Fifteen representatives wrote a letter to the White House and the State Department yesterday expressing “grave concern that the State Department is using appropriated funds to support atheism and radical, progressive orthodoxy across the world.”

“It is one thing for the Department to be tolerant and respectful of a wide range of belief systems, and to encourage governments to respect the religious freedom interests of their citizens,” the representatives’ letter said. “It is quite another for the United States government to work actively to empower atheists, humanists, non-practicing, and non-affiliated in public decision-making.”

The letter continued: “Any such program – for any religiously-identifiable group – in the United States would be unconstitutional.”

The letter also questions “how such a grant or cooperative agreement program advances the foreign policy interests of the United States” and suggests a different motive.

“Americans rightly discern this as a part of the broader effort on the part of your administration to promote radical, progressive orthodoxy abroad,” the letter said. “Atheism is an integral part of the belief system of Marxism and communism.”

The letter gave other examples of such efforts, including the U.S. Embassy in Germany flying a Black Lives Matter flag and the State Department’s creation of a special representative for racial equity and justice. The letter says this individual’s mission will be to “spread Critical Race Theory and other progressive dogmas worldwide.”

The letter requests answers to twelve questions about the State Department’s “religious freedom” project, mostly dealing with the details project, how it serves U.S. interests, and whether it is fair to other belief systems.

HD Editor’s Note: Why Is This News Biblically Relevant?

Mark Looy, who is a founder and CCO of Answers in Genesis, asserted that the United States has, in essence, dangerously adopted atheism as a state religion. 

“In their intensifying efforts to reduce the influence of Christianity in the public arena, atheist activists and other secular humanists have become oblivious to an irony,” Looy wrote, “as they suck Christianity out of society, they fill the vacuum with their own faith-based (but nontheistic) religion.”

“Yes, you heard that right. Atheism is a religion,” he underscored. “While atheistic humanists argue there must be a total separation of church and state, they refuse to admit that their own belief system is, by the actual dictionary definition, religious.”

“If atheistic humanism is a religion, then a religion is now being espoused in government schools and pervades the legal system. In essence, the United States has adopted a state religion,” he warned. “More than that, its ideas pervade the culture, including the media, museums, science books, the Internet, and science journals.”

“Atheistic humanists may claim to be irreligious, but their zeal in refuting other religions only reveals their own religiosity,” he added.

Many have pointed out that although the secular left continuously states that they are the group that stands wholeheartedly for tolerance, it is abundantly clear that they only “tolerate” the views and values that align with themselves.

The godless will not “tolerate” the true and living God being acknowledged. The very mention of Jesus is an offense to those who reject Him.

The Bible provides us keen insight into the mind behind this thinking.

1 Peter 2:7-8 states that to those who believe, Jesus is precious, but to the disobedient to God, Christ is a “stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”

2 Timothy 3:1-13 states that in the last days, perilous times would come and that all that live “godly in Christ shall suffer persecution.” In other words, people would despise all those who live according to the truth and morality standards laid out in God’s Word. The same chapter explains that man in the last days will be corrupt, despise the truth, and be “reprobate concerning the faith.”