Donald Wildmon of the American Family Association is outraged to have discovered that wads of taxpayer dollars are going to support the renovation and repair of Muslim mosques and minarets - in other countries.

I suppose, given the current attitude toward all things Muslim on the part of certain people, that's quite enough reason to be outraged. It's probably a good way to raise money, too.

Mr. Wildmon protests that if that grant money had been given to Christian projects there'd be an uprising from the usual suspects. In fact, I counted in the press release at least eleven projects devoting thousands of dollars to Christian projects on the list. Mr. Wildmon shouldn't read so selectively before he gets upset.

What Mr. Wildmon neglected to tell us in his August 26 report is that millions of US dollars are going to other kinds of cultural preservation projects, including (inter alia) "Preventive Conservation of Ethnographic Collections of the Choma Musem and Crafts Center" in Zambia; "Documentation of Khmer Classical Dance Technique and Rituals" in Cambodia;  and "Documentation of Akha Cultural Traditions" ($77K) in Thailand.

These "awards" come under the auspices of the Department of State in what's called the "U. S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation 2010 Awards." Sounds like a sort of discretionary fund for US ambassadors for making nice with local governments. Bizarre the many different ways that money changing hands has come to constitute US foreign policy.

But I suppose if we believe money is the means to happiness - semi-official policy throughout the US - then channeling some of your money and mine into the happiness of various ethnic groups and national governments is not such a bad idea.

But it's sad to think that what foreigners want most from the US - whether they're schmoozing with ambassadors for this or that project or sneaking across the borders illegally - is the money they can get from us. Is this what has become of the greatest experiment in freedom the world has ever known? A kind of international ATM?

And here's where the outrage should be placed: We are served by a government and surrounded by a population which believes that money changing hands is the essence of the good life. How'd it get this way? Where was the Church as this mentality settled on the nation? Don't we at least have a way of life, a hope of glory, a promise of blessing, and a message of Truth to offer our neighbors and the world, which puts money in its proper place, even as it exalts more permanent and meaningful matters?

Mr.Wildmon should be outraged, sure enough (he should also try to be a little more accurate). But his outrage should be directed at the weakness of the Church and our witness - at least as much as at a government that's only doing what it knows best how to do.

T. M. Moore