Samaritan's Purse reportedly held prayer meetings in several villages before showing residents how to build the housing. Samaritan's Purse, which is based in Boone, issued a statement March 6, the day after the initial Times story. Samaritan's Purse said it fully supports existing federal guidelines that prohibit the use of federal dollars to fund religious work such as evangelism, Bible distribution and church construction. A spokesman for Samaritan's Purse, Mark DeMoss, told the Times that Graham would rather do without federal funds than abandon religious principles. Supporters of the proposal say religious groups should not be discriminated against in their efforts to help people.
Critics say the plan blurs the separation of church and state.