c. 2004 Religion News Service
Muslims, ACLU Object to Intelligence Overhaul Bill
(RNS) Muslim, civil liberties and human rights organizations are voicing opposition to legislation they believe expands the Patriot Act and denies civil liberties to immigrants.
“The 9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act,” which passed the House in a 282-134 vote Friday (Oct. 8), details a plan to reorganize the U.S. intelligence community in light of the recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission, which published its report in late August.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations urged its members to contact their representatives in Congress to oppose provisions in the legislation that relate to immigration, saying it “is viewed by CAIR as an expansion of the Patriot Act.”
Specifically, the group objects to provisions of the bill that would allow for immigrants to be deported without any judicial review.
The “expedited removal” provision was absent from a version of the bill that passed the Senate overwhelmingly Wednesday (Oct. 6), but passed in the House version. House and Senate leaders continue to debate the provisions as they prepare the final version that they will send to the White House for approval.
The human rights organization Amnesty International also opposes the legislation, calling it “the outsourcing of torture” because of its proposal allowing people to be deported to countries where they may face torture.
The American Civil Liberties Union also opposes what it refers to as “mean-spirited measures” in the legislation.
The group says that the legislation, in addition to proposing anti-immigrant policies that would deny civil liberties to many, is contrary to the spirit of the 9/11 commission’s recommendations.
“As in times past, immigrants have become the scapegoat,” said Timothy H. Edgar, an ACLU legislative counsel, in a statement.
“These measures have been rejected by the 9/11 commission and the Senate,” he said. “The House must not cave in to pressures from hard-line anti-immigrant groups.”
_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi
Southern Baptist Public-School Debate Moves to State Level
(RNS) The discussion in Southern Baptist circles about whether children should be pulled from public schools in favor of Christian education has moved to the state level.
At least 10 state convention meetings of Southern Baptists in October and November are scheduled to consider resolutions that urge them to take students out of public schools so they can get a Christian education.
“One of the great tragedies of American Christianity has been the near universal failure of its leaders to boldly proclaim the inherent dangers lurking within America’s government-owned and controlled schools,” Roger Moran, a member of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee from Missouri, said in a statement.
“As the educational philosophy of public schools increasingly mirrors the anti-Christian philosophy of our activist judges, the time has come to proclaim with absolute clarity that `render unto Caesar’ was never intended to include the hearts and minds of our children.”
Pastor Larry Reagan, editor of the Concerned Tennessee Baptists’ newsletter, agreed.
“This is becoming a very hot issue among Baptists and other evangelical Christians,” Reagan said in a statement. “As pastors, we need to step up to the challenge by making sure Christian children receive a Christian education 24/7.”
In June, the resolutions committee for the annual national meeting of Southern Baptists in Indianapolis chose not to recommend a resolution to convention attendees that would have rejected their involvement in public education. A proponent of the resolution made an unsuccessful attempt to amend another resolution to address his concerns.
According to the Web site of Exodus Mandate, a Columbia, S.C.-based organization, state conventions considering the resolutions include the Baptist Convention of New England and conventions in Tennessee, Missouri, South Carolina, California, Illinois, Florida, Texas, Virginia and North Carolina.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Conservative Episcopalians Launch Own Relief Agency
(RNS) A network of conservative Episcopalians has set up its own relief agency, giving dissidents a place to channel money that they do not want to go to the national Episcopal Church.
The Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes, which was launched in January as a way to give shelter to disgruntled conservatives, said the new Anglican Relief and Development will help fund projects in poor parts of the Anglican Communion.
Conservatives who disagree with the church’s acceptance of an openly gay bishop have promised to “redirect” funding away from the denomination and have withheld payments to local dioceses as a form of protest.
The fund will be headquartered in Radnor, Pa., alongside Geneva Global, a clearinghouse that identifies and researches development projects in the Third World.
Beneficiaries of the money will likely be conservative Anglican bishops in the Third World who have offered guidance to U.S. conservatives and rejected grants and aid from the Episcopal Church.
“We will channel North American Anglicans’ contributions directly to the best local projects in poorer countries,” said the Very Rev. Peter Moore, former president of Trinity Episcopal Seminary and chairman of the board of trustees for the relief fund.
Cynthia Brust, a spokeswoman for the American Anglican Council, said the new fund would not be the only recipient of conservatives’ financial support but will receive the Council’s blue ribbon seal of support.
Last year, the official global relief agency of the U.S. church, Episcopal Relief and Development, distributed $6.1 million to projects and disasters around the world.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Catholic Bishops Award $9 Million in Anti-Poverty Grants
(RNS) The anti-poverty office of the nation’s Catholic bishops has awarded nearly $9 million to help fund local projects that try to help poor people lift themselves out of poverty.
The annual grants from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development will fund 330 projects in 45 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Funding for the grants comes from an annual parish offering.
One-quarter of the money collected is reserved for local programs and the remainder is sent to the national campaign overseen by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Although the number of Americans living in poverty continues to rise, the CCHD grants have declined slightly from the $10.1 million awarded in 2000.
Groups that receive the grants do not need to be Catholic, but must be centered on community organizing with the goal of increasing access to education, adequate housing, health care and jobs. Most projects are run by poor people.
“Even with $9 million available for grants this year, we were only able to fund 71 percent of the requests we received,” said the Rev. Bob Vitillo, the campaign’s executive director.
Among the projects receiving money this year are Eastside Pride in Buffalo, N.Y., which will spend $30,000 repairing 600 broken street lights and mobilizing to fix 100 abandoned homes. The Tennessee Health Care Campaign will use a $29,000 grant to help recruit poor families to join the TennCare for Children and Families program to provide access to the state’s managed health care program.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Quote of the Day: Retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu
(RNS) “I’m just waiting for my Tony nominations now.”
_ Retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of Cape Town, South Africa, on his acting role in a New York play about the detention of alleged terrorists at an American base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Tutu, who played a British judge, was quoted by Ecumenical News International.
KRE/PH END RNS
