Less than a week after Rex Tillerson and President Trump engaged in Saudi swordplay, the Secretary of State has declined to honor the religion of peace during Ramadan – breaking with nearly 20 years of tradition.
The State Department’s Office of Religion and Global Affairs sent Tillerson a request to hold an Eid al-Fitr reception to honor Ramadan. I’m guessing Rex took one look at ‘Eid al Fitr’ and read no further.
His rejection of the request suggests there are no plans this year for any high-profile Ramadan function at the State Department. The month of fasting and prayer for Muslims gets under way in many countries on Saturday.
When asked by Reuters to comment on Tillerson declining a request to host an Eid al-Fitr event in July for Ramadan, a State Department spokesperson said:
“We are still exploring possible options for observance of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the month of Ramadan. U.S. ambassadors are encouraged to celebrate Ramadan through a variety of activities, which are held annually at missions around the world.” –Reuters
In other words if public backlash is loud enough and/or someone lawyers up, the State Dept. might cobble something together.
If you enjoy the content at iBankCoin, please follow us on Twitter
Since they’re supposed to be fasting until sundown anyway, not hosting a luncheon event is actually honoring the Ramadan…. Brilliant!!
Good. They should double the Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations and send a cultural message.
The offical White House video of the Trump sword dance: https://youtu.be/Wd6TPIxWQwA
Well. if people are going to complain about a Christmas tree in the lobby, I don’t see how it’s OK to celebrate a Muslim holiday. Everybody is so uptight and offended about nearly everything, it’s just ridiculous now.
I am for a complete State-Religion separation. We don’t live in a society that is run by Sharia law. State should be completely atheistic and blind to religions practiced by citizens.