GOP lawmaker slams federal grant to ‘introduce Muslim cultures to Americans’

Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.) on Thursday blasted a federal grant to a North Carolina college that requires the college library to “introduce Muslim cultures to Americans.”

Jones said Craven Community College recently won a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant called the “Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys” grant.

The grant gives the college 25 books and a DVD on Muslim cultures to place in its library. A grant of funds is also thought to be involved, and Jones’s office has asked how much money the school would get.

Regardless of the total size of the grant, Jones said it’s a waste of taxpayer money.

“It is appalling to me that a federal agency like NEH is wasting taxpayer money on programs like this,” Jones said. “It makes zero sense for the U.S. government to borrow money from China in order to promote the culture of Islamic civilizations.”

{mosads}The congressman noted that the grant would require the college to place books in its library called “The Butterfly Mosque: A Young American Woman’s Journey to Love and Islam,” “The Story of the Qur’an,” “Muhammad,” and “A Quiet Revolution: The Veil’s Resurgence, from the Middle East to America.”

Jones said that if the college accepts the grant, its library should also include “books about Christianity and America’s rich Judeo-Christian heritage.”

Jones wrote to the college on Wednesday and said the Craven-Pamlico Christian Coalition has agreed to donate 25 books about Christianity for the library.

“If the college intends to accept the NEH Muslim Journey’s Bookshelf grant, I trust that you and the board would agree that your own policy requires it to also accept a donation of resources on Christianity and America’s Judeo-Christian roots,” he wrote to Carol Mattocks, who chairs Craven Community College’s Board of Trustees. “I look forward to your response.”

Jones is one of the more centrist members of the House Republican Conference, particularly in the area of military policy. He has spoken at length on the House floor — often alongside Democrats — on the need to end military intervention in Afghanistan more quickly.

Jones voted against last week’s “fiscal cliff” bill not only because it would increase the federal debt, but because it contains millions of dollars in corporate welfare in the form of tax breaks and credits.

— This story was updated at 2:05 p.m.