c. 1996 Religion News Service
Jewish groups, Clinton criticize anti-terrorism bill as too weak
(RNS)-President Clinton and a host of Jewish groups are sharply criticizing a House-passed measure aimed at countering terrorism in the United States and abroad because most of the central features of the bill were removed.”If we’re going to have a bill, we need a real bill,”Clinton said in a statement issued Thursday (March 14) as he returned home from the Middle East after attending a meeting of world leaders called to condemn terrorism.
Clinton expressed the hope that when the bill goes to a conference committee with the Senate it”will be made much stronger.”The Senate has passed a different version of the bill.
Before adopting the legislation, the House accepted an amendment proposed by Rep. Robert L. Barr Jr., R-Ga., deleting key provisions of the bill allowing prosecutors to use evidence gathered through improper wiretaps as long as law enforcement officials acted in good faith, and permitting the government to bar foreigners from the United States for belonging to a suspected or known terrorist group.
It also deleted provisions letting the government deport foreigners involved in terrorist activities without publicly revealing the evidence against them, and banning fund-raising in the United States by terrorist groups.
Barr, a former U.S. attorney, said the parts of the bill eliminated by his amendment would have upset the balance between the government’s police powers and Americans’ constitutional rights.”We do not need to give our government vast new powers,”he said during the debate.
The original bill, prompted in part by last year’s bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, was opposed by civil liberties groups as well as some Muslim and Irish-American organizations as a potential threat to civil rights.
The bill’s key remaining provision makes it more difficult for state and federal prison inmates to file appeals of their sentences.
On Friday (March 15), Jewish groups said they were profoundly disappointed by passage of the Barr amendment.”The bill as passed is no longer an anti-terrorism bill,”Richard T. Foltin, legislative director and counsel of the American Jewish Committee, said in a statement.”It has nothing to do with either preventing acts of terrorism or capturing perpetrators of such acts.” The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement calling passage of the Barr amendment”an abdication of responsibility and an affront to the memory of the victims of … terrorism in Israel and elsewhere.”A statement by the American Jewish Congress called the bill”a betrayal.” Farrakhan says he is an agent of God, not Libya
(RNS)-Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan, under government scrutiny for his recent trip to Africa and the Middle East, denied Thursday (March 14) he was an agent of Libya but said he would accept financial aid from that country.”I am not an agent of Libya, or any foreign government, and there is no need for me ever to follow that law that I should register,”Farrakhan told a news conference. U.S. law requires American citizens who get paid to act on behalf of foreign governments to register as an agent of the foreign country paying them.”My instruction and guidance come from Allah and his books-the Bible, the Koran …. That is the power that I am an agent of. And if the government requests that I register as an agent of God, then I shall do so,”he said.
Farrakhan acknowledged he had received a letter from the Justice Department asking about his visit to Libya.
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has also written Farrakhan asking whether the Nation of Islam leader spent U.S. currency in Libya or Iran, or accepted money from either of the two countries. Both countries are under U.S. sanctions.
The U.S. government probe was sparked by a report by the official Libyan news agency JANA during Farrakhan’s trip to that country last month which said Libya had pledged $1 billion to aid Farrakhan’s work in the United States.
`Dead Man Walking’ wins a `Wilbur’ and first Templeton movie prize
(RNS)-“Dead Man Walking,”a film that chronicles the Louisiana death row ministry of Roman Catholic Sister Helen Prejean, won two prizes this week-a”Wilbur”from the Religious Public Relations Council and the first Templeton Prize for Inspiring Movies and TV.
The Wilbur, named after Marvin C. Wilbur, a pioneer in religious public relations, honors those in secular media who demonstrate excellence in the expression of religious and moral issues.
The Templeton Prize, created by philanthropist John Templeton, honors entertainment that”instills in the viewer a greater understanding of God.””Dead Man Walking”(Gramercy Pictures) was written and directed by Tim Robbins. It stars Susan Sarandon in the role of Prejean and Sean Penn as a death row inmate trying to stave off his execution.
Dean Hirsch elected president and CEO of World Vision International
(RNS)-Dean Hirsch, 48, has been elected president and chief executive officer of World Vision International, the international evangelical Christian relief and development agency based in Monrovia, Calif.
World Vision International oversees humanitarian aid programs in 100 nations and is a separate but related organization from World Vision U.S.
Hirsch has been with World Vision International for 20 years. He has been serving as acting chief executive officer since October 1994.
Former Methodist global ministries comptroller sentenced
(RNS)-William R. Jones, former comptroller of the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, who had pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted grand larceny in the third degree, was sentenced Thursday (March 14) to six months in prison.
But Judge Howard Bell of the New York State Supreme Court, noting state law allows parole after two months in a six-month sentence, ordered Jones released from custody on the basis of time he has already served.
Jones was arrested last Nov. 26 in Los Angeles after board of ministries officials accused him of embezzling approximately $400,000.
He was extradited to New York, where the Board of Global Ministries is headquartered, and has been in custody since then.
Jones was employed by the board for two years before resigning to take a job with the United Methodist California-Pacific Annual (regional) Conference. The alleged theft was discovered within days after Jones left the New York job. Virtually all of the money has been recovered.
On Dec. 20, Jones was arraigned in the New York State Supreme Court on one count of grand larceny in the second degree and four counts of grand larceny in the third degree. In a hearing Feb. 15, Jones pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of attempted grand larceny in the third degree.
Quote of the day: Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey
(RNS)-Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, spiritual head of the worldwide Anglican communion, reacted Friday (March 15) to Wednesday’s killing of 16 school children in Dunblane, Scotland, with a call for a return to moral absolutes and a national dialogue on violence while warning not to make hasty parallels between violence in the media and the Scottish shooting.”We simply don’t know enough about the motives behind the killing to be able to have that kind of debate, and indeed it would be very foolish if we didâÂ?¦. Certain things are wrong and evil, like murder. Honesty, truth, justice-all these great truths have made our country great in the past and will continue to do so if we return to them.”JC END ANDERSON
