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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R-of course) has apparently committed the unforgivable sin of asking whether government-owned airports should be in the business of providing religion-specific amenities.
Abbott ordered a review of state funding for airports across Texas after learning about Islamic ablution facilities at two of the state's largest airports. The question is fairly simple: If government is supposed to remain religiously neutral, why is it providing specialized facilities for the practices of one particular faith?
“These ablution facilities appear designed to single out one subset of the population for special treatment based on religion. That is illegal,” said Abbott.
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport plans to install separate foot-washing stations for men and women so Muslims can perform wudu, the ritual washing conducted before Islamic prayer. The project was originally listed as privately funded, with an estimated price tag of $300,000 and an August 31 start date.
Apparently, however, the phrase "privately funded" was experiencing a brief identity crisis.
DFW later told the Dallas Express that the facilities would actually be paid for with airport funds. The airport blamed an outside design firm, which mistakenly selected "non-publicly funded" on a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
“That was an error and it should have indicated that airport funds would be used projects. We are putting in firm erroneously selected no dollars for its operation to prevent that kind of error in the future,” said DFW.
This is reassuring. Nothing makes taxpayers sleep better than learning that hundreds of thousands of dollars in airport spending may have been accurately described as private funding due to an unfortunate encounter with a dropdown menu.
Abbott's review could result in existing state grants being revoked and future funding denied to airport operators, including DFW and George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
He has also asked the U.S. Department of Transportation to investigate both airports for possible religious discrimination.
While DFW is still deciding whether to install its ablution facilities, IAH [George Bush International Airport] already has one connected to a prayer room.
“Both airports are government-owned facilities,” said Abbott. “The federal and state constitutions prohibit government from facilitating this sort of discrimination.”
Abbott also asked Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to have the Department of Transportation and Federal Aviation Administration review the facilities and take corrective action if necessary.
Both airports receive federal funding and are required to comply with federal laws prohibiting religious discrimination. Which raises an awkward question for the modern bureaucracy: If government cannot favor one religion over another, how exactly did taxpayers wind up underwriting religious foot baths?
Surely this is all just a misunderstanding.
Perhaps tomorrow the airports will announce that Christians can receive complimentary baptismal pools, Jews can get kosher ceremonial washing stations, Hindus can receive a taxpayer-funded purification room, and atheists can be provided with a comfortable chair where they can contemplate the absurdity of the entire arrangement.
DFW's explanation does little to calm the situation. According to the airport, the outside design firm selected the wrong funding designation on the paperwork.
Apparently the airport's religious neutrality was not the problem. The checkbox was.
X users backed Abbott's move, with some calling for similar scrutiny of other airports.
At this rate, the next great airport security breakthrough may not involve detecting explosives. It may involve detecting whether the government has accidentally decided to become the facilities manager for someone's religion.
And somewhere, a taxpayer is still waiting for the airport to build a special foot-washing station for him.
He just hasn't figured out which religion gets one yet.
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