No fund for you if you have Islamic wudu washing facilities: Major row over Texas Governor’s warning to two airports
Texas Governor Greg Abbott warned Dallas-Fort Worth Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, accusing them of religious bias over Islamic wudu washing facilities. Abbott said government-owned airports cannot favor one religion over all others and they should be investigated and their funds should be stopped if they are found doing something like that. Abbott said the state will review grants to both the airports for possible revocation and denial of future funding. He also referred both airports to the US Department of Transportation for investigation.“Government-owned airports cannot favor one religion over all others,” Abbott wrote. “DFW plans to install Islamic wudu washing facilities are illegal. I’ve directed a review of all state grants to both airports for possible revocation, and referred DFW & IAH to USDOT for investigation.“Texas will not allow illegal religious discrimination at taxpayer-funded facilities,” he warned.
DFW scraps new wudu washing facilities but what about those existing?
Fox News reported that Dallas Fort Worth International Airport said that it scrapped its project to instal Islamic washing stations. The authorities said that it had been evaluating a proposal to add wudu washing stations on the pre-security side of Terminal D, its international terminal, but did not find enough operational benefits.“DFW was in the process of evaluating an internal proposal to add a set of ablution washing stations on the pre-security side of Terminal D, the international terminal. Like all proposed projects, the airport ultimately considers the operational benefits, customer service impacts, operational risks and costs before approving them,” the airport said.“While that evaluation was planned, the airport accelerated its review due to elevated public interest this week and has determined not to proceed with the project as it would not deliver the originally anticipated operational benefits.”Wudu wash basin rowWudu basin is a specialized structure that allows easy washing of hands, face, arms, and feet before daily prayers.There was confusion over the DFW plan, as one record showed it as a project which will be privately funded and would cost approximately $300,000. But it was altered to a public fund project, and the cost was significantly reduced to $115,000. The airport authorities said the mismatch was an administrative error by an outside design firm but now the project has been canned.The DFW scrapped the project to add two new wash basins but it’s not known what would happen to the existing ones.“It’s great that the new Wudu stations in DFW were canceled after Governor Abbott coming out and opposing them, but don’t be fooled under Governor Abbotts leadership in 2019, Wudu stations were installed and are currently in use in Terminal D of DFW Airport,” Republican leader Alexander Duncan said, adding that Abbott had been complicit in the ‘Islamic invasion’ of Texas.
