Church body welcomes blocking of USA Patriot Act
-19/12/05
The National Council of Chu
Church body welcomes blocking of USA Patriot Act
-19/12/05
The National Council of Churches USA, whose members include 45 million Christians across the country, today praised the US Senate for its caution when it declined to end a filibuster blocking the renewal of the USA Patriot Act.
“The Patriot Act was hastily enacted after 9/11 in an attempt to protect US citizens from further terrorist violence,” said Dr Antonios Kireopoulos, associate general secretary of the NCC for International Affairs and Peace. “It’s now time to ask ourselves what this law has meant with respect to our most basic freedoms.”
The USA Patriot Act is a backronym for the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act 2001.
It was designed to expand the authority of US law enforcement to combat terrorism in the United States and abroad. Among the laws it amended were those concerning immigration, banking and money laundering, and foreign intelligence.
Critics claim that some portions of the Act are unnecessary and infringe upon freedom of speech, freedom of the press, human rights, and right to privacy.
In November 2005, the General Assembly of the NCC and Church World Service (the ecumenical aid agency) passed a resolution calling for “ever-vigilant” support of civil and religious liberties. The resolution expresses concern that the Patriot Act “has the potential for vastly eroding” those liberties.
“The provisions of the act are in seeming conflict with the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures,” the resolution states. “These provisions include: delayed-notice search warrants to secretly investigate potential criminals; national security letters to secretly gather private and confidential information; relaxed restrictions on wiretapping; and extensive use of deportation and denial of immigrant applications based on unknowing associations.”
Last week President Bush admitted authorizing wiretaps on US citizens and said they were necessary to uncover terrorist plans. Even so, many of the 40 Democrats and four Republicans who voted against a motion to end the filibuster cited this unusual measure as one of their concerns.
In a series of public statements, Mr Bush has defended the Patriot Act as a necessary weapon for the war on terrorism. “In the war on terror, we cannot afford to be without this law for a single moment,” he said. The Patriot Act’s 16 major provisions will expire Dec. 31 unless Congress extends them.
“We’re not calling upon the government to abandon its responsibility to defend its citizens,” said the Rev Dr Bob Edgar, general secretary of the NCC. “At the same time, there is no more eloquent rebuke to our terrorist enemies than to show we will never back away from the religious and civil liberties they seem to hate so much.”
President Bush, strongly defending a secret domestic spying programme and the USA Patriot Act as “vital tools in the war on terrorism”, today denounced the disclosure of the surveillance as a “shameful act” and said it was “inexcusable” for senators to block renewal of the 2001 law’s key provisions.
The National Council of Churches USA is composed of 35 Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, historic African American and Peace communions representing 45 million Christians in 100,000 local congregations in the United States.
Here is the full text of the NCC USA General Assembly’s Resolution on the Threat to Civil and Religious Liberties in Post-9/11 America.
Church body welcomes blocking of USA Patriot Act
-19/12/05
The National Council of Churches USA, whose members include 45 million Christians across the country, today praised the US Senate for its caution when it declined to end a filibuster blocking the renewal of the USA Patriot Act.
“The Patriot Act was hastily enacted after 9/11 in an attempt to protect US citizens from further terrorist violence,” said Dr Antonios Kireopoulos, associate general secretary of the NCC for International Affairs and Peace. “It’s now time to ask ourselves what this law has meant with respect to our most basic freedoms.”
The USA Patriot Act is a backronym for the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act 2001.
It was designed to expand the authority of US law enforcement to combat terrorism in the United States and abroad. Among the laws it amended were those concerning immigration, banking and money laundering, and foreign intelligence.
Critics claim that some portions of the Act are unnecessary and infringe upon freedom of speech, freedom of the press, human rights, and right to privacy.
In November 2005, the General Assembly of the NCC and Church World Service (the ecumenical aid agency) passed a resolution calling for “ever-vigilant” support of civil and religious liberties. The resolution expresses concern that the Patriot Act “has the potential for vastly eroding” those liberties.
“The provisions of the act are in seeming conflict with the Fourth Amendment prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures,” the resolution states. “These provisions include: delayed-notice search warrants to secretly investigate potential criminals; national security letters to secretly gather private and confidential information; relaxed restrictions on wiretapping; and extensive use of deportation and denial of immigrant applications based on unknowing associations.”
Last week President Bush admitted authorizing wiretaps on US citizens and said they were necessary to uncover terrorist plans. Even so, many of the 40 Democrats and four Republicans who voted against a motion to end the filibuster cited this unusual measure as one of their concerns.
In a series of public statements, Mr Bush has defended the Patriot Act as a necessary weapon for the war on terrorism. “In the war on terror, we cannot afford to be without this law for a single moment,” he said. The Patriot Act’s 16 major provisions will expire Dec. 31 unless Congress extends them.
“We’re not calling upon the government to abandon its responsibility to defend its citizens,” said the Rev Dr Bob Edgar, general secretary of the NCC. “At the same time, there is no more eloquent rebuke to our terrorist enemies than to show we will never back away from the religious and civil liberties they seem to hate so much.”
President Bush, strongly defending a secret domestic spying programme and the USA Patriot Act as “vital tools in the war on terrorism”, today denounced the disclosure of the surveillance as a “shameful act” and said it was “inexcusable” for senators to block renewal of the 2001 law’s key provisions.
The National Council of Churches USA is composed of 35 Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, historic African American and Peace communions representing 45 million Christians in 100,000 local congregations in the United States.
Here is the full text of the NCC USA General Assembly’s Resolution on the Threat to Civil and Religious Liberties in Post-9/11 America.