Time: Thu May 15 05:25:07 1997 by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id EAA19332; Thu, 15 May 1997 04:52:24 -0700 (MST) by usr05.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id EAA29911; Thu, 15 May 1997 04:52:17 -0700 (MST) Date: Thu, 15 May 1997 05:12:32 -0700 To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SLS: Senate Religious Persecution Task Force (fwd) <snip> > >>From the URL: http://www.nationalcenter.inter.net/SenateRelPersecution597.html > >Senate Religious Persecution Task Force > >Membership, Purpose, Legislative Agenda >with Examples of Religious Persecution > > >Distributed May 1997 by Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) > > >TASK FORCE MEMBERS > >Inhofe (Chairman), Ashcroft, Brownback, Coats, D'Amato, Helms, Specter > >PURPOSE OF TASK FORCE > >Religious persecution is increasing against all faiths but in particular >against Christians especially in China and the Muslim world. > >A radical regime in Sudan allied with Iran has used massacre, starvation, >slavery, and forced resettlement against the Christian minority. > >In communist China, there is massive repression against tens of millions of >Christians, both Protestant and Catholic, in the unregistered "house >church" movement. > >The advisory committee established by the administration to monitor >religious persecution has done nothing of substance in response to this >increasing pattern of abuse. > >There is no one-time, quick-fix answer. As the Task Force works on >addressing these atrocities, we welcome your input. > >LEGISLATIVE REMEDIES > >Legislation prepared by Senator Specter and Representative Wolf will be the >starting point for the Task Force. There are some aspects that could be >problematic and I would like to work on alternative language. > >SPECTER/WOLF: Provides for targeted economic sanctions. >PROBLEM: Success of economic sanctions has been mixed because they tend to >be too weak and waiveable by the president. > >SPECTER/WOLF: Increases opportunity for persecuted religious communities to >be admitted in refugee status is or granted asylum status. >PROBLEM: The bill uses the plight of Soviet Jews during the Cold War as a >model. However, the emigration solution for 2 million Soviet Jews then may >not be the solution for 50 million Chinese Christians today. > >SPECTER/WOLF: Five year extension of Lautenberg amendment. >PROBLEM: This may unnecessarily complicate our efforts. Claims of asylum or >refugee status based on religious persecution must be taken as seriously as >forms of persecution. > >Other legislative remedies may include: > >Withholding funds for a visit of President Jiang Zemin of China for an >official visit until the president certifies specified improvements have >taken place with respect to Christians. > >Free standing legislation on Sudan (also in Specter/Wolf). > >Establishment of "equal access" laws that would require U.S. diplomatic and >consular premises abroad to permit religious services. The U.S. mission in >Saudi Arabia no longer allows Christian services on the premises, although >they have set aside facilities for Islamic worship. > >EXAMPLES OF RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION >Sudan: Religious Persecution > >In 1992, a nine-year old Christian boy from the Sudanese Dinka tribe was >sent by his mother to buy tomatoes at the local market. While on the >errand, the boy was stopped by the Muslim secret police and sent with other >boys to a children's "cultural cleansing camp" where they were forcibly >converted to Islam. > >Since declaring Sudan an Islamic state in 1983, the government's attempt to >impose Shari'a (traditional Islamic law) has resulted in the death of more >than 1.3 million people and the displacement of more than 3 million others, >mostly Christian and non-Muslims. > >In February 1996, Gaspar Biro (United Nation's Special Rapporteur on Sudan) >reported "an alarming increase" in the number of cases of "slavery, >servitude, slave trade and forced labor" in Sudan. With growing frequency, >Christian villages are raided, men are exterminated, children forced into >military training and women sold into slavery or relocated to concentration >camps. > >The Baltimore Sun reported, beginning on June 16, 1996, that two of its >reporters went to Sudan and bought slaves for five hundred dollars each. > >Under the Islamic Shari'a, conversion to Christianity is illegal. In August >1995, five Nuban women were sentenced to death for apostasy or abandoning >Islam. In late 1995, ten persons were arrested for converting to Christianity. > >China: Religious Persecution > >Huang Fangxin is a 31 year old convicted criminal serving out a three year >sentence in the laogai - Chinas infamous reform-through-labor camp. This >criminal was found guilty of being the "ringleader of an illegal religous >organization" that successfully witnessed Christianity to many Chinese >university students. His "reeducation through labor" was for "disturbing >the social order and normal religious life" and for "influencing the >stability and unity of village life." > >Peter Yongze Xu, minister of a four million member "house church," has been >in hiding since 1991 after having been arrested while attending a Billy >Graham crusade in China. > >In March 1996, seventeen church members were arrested for attending an >unlicenced church meetirg in western Xingiang province, a predominantly >Muslim region. All but five women were released when responsibility was >accepted for the illegal gathering. After admitting their guilt, police >severely beat the women, poured scalding water on them and sent them to >prison. > >The Far Eastern Economic Review reported on June 6, 1996, that "police has >destroyed at least fifteen thousand unregistered temples, churches and >tombs" between February and June 1996 in the Zhejiang province alone. > > >=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= >To unsubscribe from this mailing list, DISREGARD ANY INSTRUCTIONS ABOVE and >go to the Web page at http://www.maillist.net/rightnow.html. New >subscriptions can also be entered at this page. If you cannot access the >World Wide Web, send an e-mail message to RightNow-Request@MailList.Net and >on the SUBJECT LINE put the single word: unsubscribe > > > ======================================================================== Paul Andrew, Mitchell, B.A., M.S. : Counselor at Law, federal witness email: [address in tool bar] : Eudora Pro 3.0.1 on Intel 586 CPU web site: http://www.supremelaw.com : library & law school registration ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this ========================================================================
Return to Table of Contents for
Supreme Law School: E-mail