[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 101 (Wednesday, July 16, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S7620]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN RUSSIA

  Mr. BENNETT. Mr. President, I would like to make a very brief 
statement about an action taken earlier this day when I was unable to 
comment--the adoption of the Smith amendment as it had to do with 
religious liberty in Russia.
  I know everyone talked about the importance of religious freedom and 
independent religious liberty, and how important it is for that value 
to be established in Russia. And I do not want to repeat those 
arguments. There is just one point I think that needs to be made here.
  The psychologists have a term ``xenophobia'' which they use to 
describe those who have a fear of strangers, or a fear of anything 
foreign. As we look at the long and troubled history of Russia, and 
then the Soviet Union, we see that one of the driving forces in that 
culture has been xenophobia--terrible fear under the czars of any kind 
of Western influence somehow creeping into Russia; terrible fear under 
the commissars, or Communist dictators from Lenin and Stalin all the 
way down through Khrushchev and Brezhnev of anything that they 
considered to be foreign. It was one of the major problems of the 
Soviet Union and one of the major difficulties that they had in 
becoming an accepted part of the world family of nations.
  We all rejoiced when the Berlin wall came down, when in the spirit of 
glasnost--or openness--Mr. Gorbachev led the Soviet Union into an 
atmosphere of much less xenophobia.
  The thing that distresses me the most is the piece of legislation 
that passed the Russian Parliament, and that is now sitting on 
President Yeltsin's desk, is that it is a clear return to the days of 
xenophobia--fear of anything from outside.
  Yes. Religious liberty is important. Yes. I voted for the Smith 
amendment to establish the importance of religious liberty. But I voted 
for the Smith amendment even more firmly because I believe the Russian 
people must be told in as firm a fashion as possible that if they 
returned to the days of the darkest period of the czars, if they 
returned to the days of the darkest period of the Soviet Union with an 
unfounded and irresponsible fear of anything that comes from beyond 
their borders, they will be taking a most serious downward turn in the 
culture and future of their Republic.
  So in that, Mr. President, I cast my vote in favor of the Smith 
amendment hoping to send that message to the people of Russia.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. DeWINE addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.

                          ____________________