[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 61 (Thursday, May 14, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H3262]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 FREEDOM FROM RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION ACT

  (Mr. WOLF asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, today the House will vote on the freedom from 
religious persecution bill, which covers only cases of torture, 
enslavement, abduction, and death.
  Noted Russian Jewish dissident Natan Sharansky said, ``When the West 
stood up for its most basic values,'' as this bill does, ``and spoke up 
for persecuted Soviet Jewish communities, Soviet chains around churches 
and political dissidents began to shatter.''
  Noted Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng sent a letter yesterday and 
said, ``If I did not see it myself, even I would not imagine the 
shameful and despicable means the Communists use against believers.''
  This bill gives the President total and complete waiver authority. 
Cardinal O'Connor of New York, in a letter yesterday said, ``The 
Freedom from Religious Persecution Act could begin the desperately 
needed process of ending the legitimizing of such persecution.''
  Failure to pass the bill would send a message to all of the dictators 
all over the world that it is open season for people of all religious 
beliefs. I hope and I pray that this bill will pass with an almost 
unanimous vote.

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