NATION

National Catholic Reporter, May 12, 2000 by Teresa Malcolm

Letter demands Bush meet with `pro-family' leaders

A dozen leaders opposing gay activism have written to Republican presidential candidate Gov. George W. Bush to request that he meet with "pro-family" representatives.

Their request follows the April 13 meeting the Texas governor held with a group of gay Republicans.

The April 24 letter writers include Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission; Charles A. Donovan, chief executive officer of the Family Research Council; and Donald Wildmon, president of the American Family Association.

"We respectfully request that you demonstrate your commitment to the family by also scheduling a meeting with those of us who believe that homosexual activism poses a serious threat to our marriage-based culture and to the freedoms of speech, religion and association," the letter writers said. "Homosexual activists are trying to use the Republican Party, much like the Democratic Party, as a vehicle to achieve their strategic objective of harnessing government and corporate power to impose acceptance of homosexual behavior."

Scott McClellan, a spokesman for Bush's campaign, said the letter was received and will be considered. McClellan said Bush "meets with pro-family leaders all the time and the governor agrees with them on the sanctity of marriage and the importance of families."

Vigilante `vacations' advertised in Southwest

Religious and human rights workers held a news conference in Tucson, Ariz., April 26 to plead with the state and federal governments to stop a vigilante movement along the state's southeastern border.

Neighborhood Ranch Watch "vacations" are being advertised around the Southwest, encouraging people to bring their RVs to ranches in the desert.

What disturbs Dominican Br. Pasquale Manalio-Passarelli is that the aim of the trips is for the visitors to take up residence on southern Arizona ranches with dogs, infrared scopes, tripwire flare launchers and other devices to help them capture illegal immigrants. "People have a right to protect their private property, but at the same time, they're inviting outsiders to come in, armed," said Manalio-Passarelli of Most Holy Trinity Parish in Phoenix.

It is estimated that thousands of people a day enter the United States along the state's southeastern border near Douglas. American property owners complain that as the Mexican and Central American migrants cross open desert and farmland, they cause theft and vandalism, endanger livestock and are a threat to their families' safety.

One organizer of the residents' patrols reportedly has boasted of capturing as many as 2,000 people himself.

In an April 25 letter to Attorney General Janet Reno, the Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, the Arizona Border Rights Project, complained about ranchers who have stopped vehicles on public highways, detained and assaulted immigrants at gunpoint.

The same week, the Mexican ambassador to the United States met with Arizona Gov. Jane Hull and Justice Department authorities to press for immediate measures "to prevent the risk of more violations of the civil and human rights of Mexican migrants," said a news release from the Mexican embassy.

Religious rights commission issues first report

Declaring that freedom of religion "ought to be a centerpiece of American foreign policy," a federal commission released its first report May 1 urging the U.S. government to denounce religious oppression abroad by, among other things, tightening sanctions against Sudan and restricting access to U.S. capital markets for firms doing business with oppressive governments.

In its report that focused primarily on religious rights abuses in Russia, Sudan and China, the 10-member U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom appealed to the U.S. government to help end the 17-year-old civil war in Sudan -- waged between the country's Islamic government and separatist groups in the south.

The report also urged Washington to help create a "military no-fly zone" over Sudan, increase humanitarian aid to the country's southern half, and launch a yearlong effort to pressure Sudan to end human rights violations.

Noting China's "egregious, systematic persecution of religious people of practically every faith," the report cautioned Washington against extending permanent normal trade relations status to China.

Russia also came under fire from the commission, which asked that the U.S. government pressure Moscow to extend the length of visas for religious workers and work to overturn a March edict that would "liquidate" non-registered religious groups at the end of the year.

The report, which also spoke out against religious oppression in Egypt, Indonesia, Iran and Vietnam, leveled charges against the U.S. Department of State as well, charging the agency with wrongly using executive privilege to justify withholding documents about economic sanctions against Sudan, "despite the fact that commissioners and commission senior staff hold the requisite security clearances."