[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 58 (Monday, May 11, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H3018-H3019]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               THE FREEDOM FROM RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I want to spend a moment talking about the 
Freedom from Religious Persecution Act, H.R. 2431, which will be on the 
floor for debate at the end of this week. The bill is bipartisan, it 
has over 131 cosponsors, and it was reported out of

[[Page H3019]]

the Committee on International Relations by a vote of 31 for, only 5 
against.
  Why is this legislation needed?
  In the past decade, the Government of Sudan has killed or allowed to 
starve over 1 million of its own people. Starvation is that 
government's weapon of choice, liberally spiced with high-altitude 
bombing and mass murder, and even selling Sudanese boys and girls as 
slaves.
  In China, as we all know, Catholic priests and bishops are 
imprisoned, some for decades, simply for practicing their faith. 
Protestant pastors are thrown in jail just for holding house church 
services. Muslims suffer persecution, as do Buddhist monks and nuns.
  My office adopted Bishop Zeng Jingmu. Sunday's Washington Post 
reported that the Bishop was released 6 months early by the Chinese 
Government in anticipation of President Clinton's June visit. Bishop 
Zeng is currently out of prison, yet remains not completely free, but 
under house arrest, and is allowed to see no one but his close 
relatives. Still, the fact that he is out of prison is a good 
development, and a sign that pressure on repressive governments works.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation is supported by a large number of 
broad-based groups in the Nation. It is supported by the National 
Association of Evangelicals, by the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference, 
by the Family Research Council, by the Anti-Defamation League, by the 
Southern Baptist Convention Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, by 
the International Campaign for Tibet, by the National Jewish Coalition, 
by the Christian Coalition, by the Religious Action Center for Reformed 
Judaism, by Empower America, by Prison Fellowship Ministries, by the 
Union of Orthodox Congregations of America, by Concerned Women of 
America, by Campus Crusade for Christ, by the Seventh Day Adventist 
Church, by the Christian Legal Society, by the Catholic Alliance, by 
the Ethics and Public Policy Center, by the National Religious 
Broadcasters, by B'nai B'rith, by the American Family Association, by 
the Salvation Army. So we can see this has broad-based support.
  On Thursday the House will take up the bill, and this bill will set 
up a system to monitor religious persecution around the world; and when 
egregious acts are found, limited sanctions will be imposed unless 
waived by the President. Again, under this legislation, the President 
has total, complete ability to waive everything and anything in the 
bill.
  In closing, Mr. Speaker, when this bill becomes law, America will 
reaffirm again, as it has so many times in the past, for all the world 
that we still honor those ringing words in the Declaration of 
Independence, authored by Thomas Jefferson, where he said, We hold 
these truths to be self-evident, that all men and women are created 
equal, endowed by their creators with certain unalienable rights; that 
among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
  When this bill passes, in small villages in southern Sudan, people 
with their little crystal radio sets, people in villages in China with 
their crystal sets, when they hear that the United States Congress, the 
people's House, the House of Representatives, has voted for this 
legislation, it will send a message to the people who are being 
persecuted around the world that this Congress and this country stands 
with them.

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