c. 1998 Religion News Service

Conservatives set up group to counter ACLU on civil liberties

(RNS) Accusing the American Civil Liberties Union of failing to really protect civil liberties, a group of conservative activists has announced it will form a new rights organization _ the American Civil Rights Union.”We want to do what the ACLU claims to do but doesn’t always do,”said Robert Carleson, a management consultant who served in the first Reagan administration. Carleson will serve as chairman of the new rights group.

Others joining to form the new group are former Attorney General Edwin Meese and Robert Bork, President Reagan’s failed Supreme Court nominee.

Meese said the new organization”is needed to look out for all the civil rights contained in the Constitution rather than selected defense of those rights based on a liberal political bias.” In particular, the conservatives are critical of the ACLU’s support for gun control legislation, its argument that the death penalty amounts to cruel and unusual punishment and its stance on church-state issues that the conservatives believe violates the free exercise provision of the Constitution.

They were also critical of the ACLU’s support of affirmative action in the areas of race and gender to overcome past centuries of discrimination which the conservatives say denies whites”equal protection of the law.” Organizers said the new group will not seek to be a mere”reverse”organization of the ACLU nor will it seek to be a national membership organization. It will not seek to duplicate existing conservative legal groups but rather refer cases to other conservative groups.

Emily Whitfield, national ACLU spokeswoman said the civil liberties organization has a”clear reputation of being nonpartisan,”noting it has recently filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of the Christian Coalition and defended Oliver North’s Fifth Amendment right not to testify in the Iran-Contra hearings.

University coach looking to clarify football celebration rules

(RNS) University of South Carolina football coach Brad Scott is asking the National Collegiate Athletic Administration for the Southeastern Conference to clarify rules against”prolonged celebration”following a 15-yard penalty assessed against one of his players for”glorifying God.” On Oct. 3, Carolina receiver Zola Davis scored a touchdown and, as is his habit, knelt in the end zone and pointed his index finger skyward.”I’m glorifying God,”Davis said.”He knows what’s in my heart.” But Davis was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, the Associated Press reported.

The prolonged celebration rule was instituted in college football three years ago to put an end to the shimmy-filled, helmet-waving and dancing that followed touchdowns.

At first kneeling was prohibited but, following complaints from Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University and others, the rule was changed. A videotape made to help define what falls within the rules and what does not does not include kneeling. It does show improper pointing, but not to the sky, according to Bobby Gaston, the SEC’s coordinator of officials.

Gaston said the officials are not trying to squelch athletes who honor their faith but said he thought the official must have believed Davis’ action”went beyond kneeling.”

Pakistan moves closer to adopting Islamic law as law of the land

(RNS) Pakistani lawmakers Friday (Oct. 9) took a large step to give the government power to impose laws based on its interpretation of the Koran, the Muslim holy book.

The National Assembly, with opposition lawmakers chanting”shame, shame,”voted 151 to 16 to pass the constitutional amendment designed to provide a new Islamic order for the overwhelming Muslim nation, the Associated Press reported.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had backed the amendment, saying it would”create a truly Islamic system”in Pakistan. But the opposition, led by former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, said it could pave the way for a strict Islamic regime similar to that of neighboring Afghanistan.

To become law, the amendment requires a two-thirds vote in the Senate and the Sharif government does not have the votes to pass the amendment.

In addition, the military, which plays an influential role in Pakistani politics, has remained silent about the bill but the AP cited unnamed sources who said the generals were unhappy with the proposal because it concentrated too much power in the government and could fuel sectarian tensions.

Under the amendment, the federal government would be”obliged”to enforce prayers five times a day and collect annual tithes. It would also take precedence over the constitution, any law or any judgment of any court.

Sharif promised to protect the rights of minority religious groups who make up a bare 5 percent of Pakistan’s population of 140 million people.

But leaders of minority religions were unconvinced.”It is a weapon in the hands of fundamentalists, which would be misused against religious minorities,”said Shahbaz Bhatti, a leader of the Christian Liberation Front, an advocacy group for the country’s approximately 2 million Christians.

Update: Man at center of right-to die dispute dies

(RNS) Hugh Finn, a brain-damaged man who became the center of a legal and family dispute over the right to die, died Friday (Oct. 9) in a Virginia hospital, eight days after the feeding tube keeping him alive was removed, and one day after a federal judge rejected another request for the tube to be reinserted.

Finn, a former Louisville, Ky., news anchor, had been unable to eat, communicate or care for himself since a March 1995 car crash ruptured his aorta, depriving his brain of oxygen. He was diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state, with no chance of recovery.

In June, Finn’s wife and guardian told his family she was going to remove the feeding tube that kept him alive. But Mrs. Finn’s decision split the family and Finn’s brother John went to court to stop her.

The court case prompted the involvement of Virginia Gov. James Gilmore, who twice lost court bids to block Mrs. Finn from having the tube removed, and from groups opposed to abortion and euthanasia.

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Albert Bryan rejected a motion by a member of the Virginia House of Delegates to have the tube reinserted on the grounds that denying Finn food and water violates the guidelines of the Medicaid program.

Bryan ruled the legislator did not have standing.

Quote of the day: Sidney Jones of Human Rights Watch

(RNS)”Since China is currently in violation of almost every article of the covenant, we hope its decision to sign indicates a change in human rights practices. The test will be in the implementation.” _ Human Rights Watch official Sidney Jones on China’s signing of a treaty intended to safeguard human rights.

DEA END RNS