wfn.org | Council Creates Team to Monitor Religious Persecution Abroad

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19-February-1999 
99073 
 
    Council Creates Team to Monitor 
    Religious Persecution Abroad 
 
    by Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-A team to monitor international religious intolerance and 
other human-rights abuses has been established by the General Assembly 
Council in response to a national debate over religious persecution that 
resulted in federal legislation last fall. 
 
    The Human Rights and Religious Freedom Abroad Initiative Team of the 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), to be convened by the Worldwide Ministries 
Division, will include staff and elected representatives from the 
Congregational Ministries Division, the National Ministries Division, the 
Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, the Office of the General 
Assembly and Mission Support Services. 
 
    Its task is to: 
 
     * Track issues of human rights and religious freedom by following the 
work of the U.S. State Department and unofficial reports; 
     * Focus and coordinate the denomination's response, paying particular 
attention to U.S. government legislation and its effects; 
     * Advocate, when appropriate, for people being oppressed; 
     * Assist churches in finding means of alleviating religious 
intolerance and promoting religious freedom; 
     * Provide guidance and resources for the church as a whole and for 
congregations and their members on actions that might be taken on behalf of 
the oppressed and responses to General Assembly initiatives on religious 
freedom; and, 
     * Represent the PC(USA)'s voice on such issues in a way consistent 
with General Assembly policy, joining other Christian voices addressing 
U.S.  government decision-makers and others on issues of religious freedom 
abroad. 
 
    "The Human Rights and Religious Freedom Abroad Initiative Team will 
provide a single table where elected and staff persons may gather to review 
and coordinate the multiple program initiatives dealing with human rights 
and religious freedom," said Gary Payton, coordinator of the denomination's 
Peacemaking Program. 
 
    "Heretofore, there's not been a venue that's brought people [together] 
on an organized, regular basis to review what's ongoing. That's what this 
can do." 
 
    The GAC's action comes on the heels of a year-long Congressional debate 
on how U.S. influence ought to be brought to bear on abuses of religious 
freedom abroad. Such diverse groups as mainline churches, para-church 
organizations and right-wing groups, including the Christian Coalition, 
agree that an international response is necessary, but have not been able 
to reach consensus on a course of action. 
 
    The lack of such a consensus was apparent last year when a furor 
surrounded the Freedom from Religious Persecution Act, the bill that 
brought the issue into national consciousness. 
 
     The bill was introduced early in 1997 by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), a 
Presbyterian, and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). Mainline groups withdrew 
their support, fearing that its hard-line positions might make "scapegoats" 
of Christians and other vulnerable faith groups in offender countries. One 
of its controversial provisions would automatically apply economic 
sanctions in response to abuses of religious freedom. 
 
    Before it was even introduced, the draft legislation was criticized by 
mainline church leaders for singling out only Christians for protection. 
That exclusiveness was eliminated before the bill was introduced, but some 
religious leaders felt that, by lifting up only religious freedom, the bill 
ran the risk of subordinating other human-rights violations, such as those 
based on political or ethnic discrimination. 
 
    A compromise bill - submitted by Senate Majority Whip Don Nickles 
(R-Okla.) - was passed last fall. It gives the president authority to 
invoke diplomatic or economic sanctions against countries that repeatedly 
persecute religious believers. The law specifies that such sanctions will 
expire after two years unless re-authorized, and can be waived in the event 
of a backlash against the vulnerable religious group. It also requires 
annual State Department reports examining religious freedom worldwide, and 
establishes a 10-member commission to advise Congress on ways to counter 
religious persecution. Moreover, it authorizes what it calls an 
"ambassador-at-large" to promote religious freedom abroad. 
 
     The Rev. Walter Owensby, a Washington spokesman for the PC(USA), says 
the Nickles law is a "marked improvement" over the Wolf/Specter measure 
because it leaves more room for diplomacy and flexibility. It also put the 
religious-persecution liaison within the State Department rather than in 
the White House. 
 
    Giving the president discretion in imposing and waiving sanctions - and 
allowing more leeway for negotiating responses - were preferred by the 
PC(USA)'s overseas partner churches, according to the Rev. Marian McClure, 
director of the denomination's Worldwide Ministries Division. Fearing that 
hard-line responses might backfire on their own communities, most say they 
want specific responses tailored to individual situations. Hardships caused 
by economic sanctions, for instance, might invite persecution of the 
religious community identified as the cause of the suffering. 
 
     "Good intentions are not enough," McClure said, "when the wrong 
approach can cause setbacks for the church and even increase persecution 
 ... 
 
    "Because the our approach to mission is relational, we know many people 
and communities abroad whose freedoms are restricted," she noted. "And the 
PC(USA) itself has members and staff from abroad who are personally 
affected by persecution in their countries of origin - a pastor from Laos, 
a professor from North Korea, a staff person from Iran. ... A hallmark of 
our PC(USA) approach has been to be guided by the people who are at risk." 
 
    The new GAC-established table will include representatives from each of 
the ministry divisions to bring together people with expertise on overseas 
churches, U.S. policy and congregational education. "There are multiple 
elements to [the team]," Payton told the Presbyterian News Service after 
the vote.  "That's so it can be broad-ranged, for high impact. ... 
 
    "That's important, because the concern about religious freedom abroad 
is not only within the national political debate, but a vital concern to 
Presbyterians across the church." 

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