Right Wing Pushing For "Religious Persecution" Sanctions

by Jim Lobe

The administration of President Bill Clinton, the business lobby and a number of mainstream Protestant churches are fearful that, if approved, the laws could backfire against believers abroad.

"We are extremely concerned that the bill, as drafted, offers some actions which will do more harm than good, particularly to Christians and those of other religious communities abroad facing persecution," say the leaders of a dozen mainstream Protestant churches, including the National Council of Churches (NCC), their umbrella organization.

But the bill's major sponsors believe they have a winner and are pressing their case on Capitol Hill. Last month, the president of the Christian Coalition, Donald Hodel, identified closely with the right wing of the Republican Party, who warned at an oil industry forum that companies that oppose the bill were likely to be targeted for retaliation.

The bill, sponsored by Frank Wolf in the House of Representatives and Arlen Specter in the Senate, was approved last month by a 31-to-5-vote margin in the House International Relations Committee. It will soon be taken up in the Senate, as well as by other House committees.

Introduced last year, the bill has been revised to meet some of the objections raised at the time by business interests, the administration, and some religious organizations. As approved by the International Relations Committee, the Wolf-Specter bill should require Clinton to impose sanctions against governments which carry out or permit religious persecution -- defined as abduction, enslavement, rape, crucifixion and other forms of torture.

The bill establishes an Office of Persecution in the State Department whose director, a presidential appointee, must report each year to Congress on the countries which practice persecution.

The president would then be obliged to impose sanctions that include barring imports from the offending country, cancelling all non-humanitarian aid, denying visas to those identified as persecutors and opposing loans from international financial institutions, such as the World Bank.

Unlike an earlier version, the pending bill gives the president the option to waive sanctions if he determined that imposing them could undermine U.S. "national security" or increase, rather than reduce, persecution.

The latest version of the bill dropped provisions requiring special scrutiny of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China and other countries with which Washington has extensive commercial ties. But it retained a provision banning new investment and most trade with Sudan, whose Islamic government is accused of waging war against Christians living in the southern part of the country.

The bill also offers special protection to asylum-seekers who claim they are the victims of religious persecution. Unlike other potential refugees, these individuals would not be required to demonstrate that they have a "credible fear of persecution" to avoid expedited deportation procedures.

This provision has evoked opposition even from Wolf's fellow Republicans, who claim that it could encourage fraudulent asylum claims and create a "hierarchy" of rights victims that would favor religious refugees over others who may face greater danger if they are returned home. Observers here believe these provisions may be stripped from the bill by another committee with jurisdiction over immigration.

The administration is also clearly moving toward opposition. Asked about Clinton's remarks to the NAE, White House spokesman Mike McCurry said the bill's automatic application of sanctions, despite the bill's new waiver authority, deprived the president of the flexibility needed to conduct foreign policy.

Additionally, "some of the specific requirements of Wolf-Specter might put at risk people from minority religious populations in foreign countries that might face even greater persecution as a result of some of the very tightly drawn restrictions that are in that legislation."

That point was reinforced during a briefing by the NCC on Capitol Hill Apr. 28. The church group brought seven religious leaders -- from Pakistan, Russia, Africa, the Middle East and Indonesia -- to assess the likely impact of the bill's enforcement.

"If Washington takes strong measures, it will create more tensions between Muslims and non-Muslims," said Dr. Amien Rais, chairman of Muhamadiyah, a nationwide Islamic group of 28 million Indonesians. The Rev. Dr. Soritua Nababan, the former leader of the Communion of Churches in Indonesia agreed, adding that the economic impact of sanctions would fall heavily on Indonesians who are currently coping with an unprecedented financial crisis.

"There should be no more suffering for people who are already suffering enough," he said.

Bishop Sammy Azariah, moderator of the Christian Church of Pakistan, also expressed concern that the bill "definitely will create problems for minority churches in other lands." In addition, he said, "the very essence of the bill (to impose sanctions against poor countries) is, in my opinion, very un-Christian."