 Committee urges careful review of U.S. Patriot Act By Paula R. Kincaid The Layman Online Wednesday, June 30, 2004
In presenting the overture that instructed "the stated clerk and moderator to express to the president of the United States and the United States Congress the desire that the Patriot Act be repealed," Rev. Deborah DeBoer of Northern New York Presbytery said it had been "hastily passed" and that over 200 municipalities had acted publicly to ask that it be repealed because of infringements of civil liberties. "People say we must sacrifice some liberty for security. Immigrants are sacrificing their liberty for our security," she said. "We wanted our whole church to be a voice in Washington D.C. – to be a voice about the terrorism in this Patriot Act. We are terrorizing our own citizens with this Patriot Act." "The Patriot Act must be repealed," she said. There are some good things in the act, she said, but the government needs to "end it all and start over – thoughtfully." As the overture advocate and a member of the National Issues Committee, following her presentation DeBoer took not part in the debate or vote. The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy recommended that the committee disapprove the overture because of its Resolution on Violence, Religion, and Terrorism, which was being addressed by the assembly's Peacemaking Committee. Eleanora Giddings Ivory of the PCUSA's Washington Office told the committee, "We have been working on the issue of the Patriot Act. We have not been working toward total defeat of it. We raised concerns of civil liberties issues." When asked what parts of the Patriot Act she would like to keep, she replied, "We need to protect our borders. We need to be sure terrorism does not run rampant, but not at expense of civil liberties." She said the overture would "totally change what we are doing." Elder Baker Ring of Middle Tennessee Presbytery spoke against repealing the Patriot Act. He said that recently a member of Congress asked the America Civil Liberties Union to compile a list of those whose civil liberties had been violated. The ACLU came up with no names. "A lot of the rationale is based on hysteria, untruths and politics," he said. "I don't think we should get involved in those things at this assembly." Elder Ann Dierking of Prospect Hill Presbytery asked how many committee members had read the Patriot Act. Approximately seven or eight hands were raised. "How can we say to throw the whole thing when we don't know what is in it?" she asked. "I think it is ridiculous to say throw the whole thing out." The committee did approve a commissioner's resolution, which asked the stated clerk and moderator to tell the U.S. President and Congress that: "1. There should be a careful, unhurried review of all parts of the USA Patriot Act; "2. There should be no rush to renew aspects of the USA Patriot Act, which are not due to expire until December 2005 "3. The clear division between intelligence and criminal investigation should be restored; "4. The wording of the renewed/revisited USA Patriot Act should grant the government only those powers that we, as a people acting through our representatives, actually intend that the government shall use." |
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