New York Times

29 July 1997

[for personal use only]

Letter

AMENDMENT WILL ONLY PROTECT SOME RELIGIONS

To the Editor:

The Senate voted to cut aid to Russia if President Boris N. Yeltsin signed into law a bill that would have granted rights to only certain religions (news article, July 23). Interestingly, a constitutional amendment proposed by Representative Ernest Istook of Oklahoma would yield the same outcome in the United States.

Mr. Istook's amendment grants religious protections with the aim of securing for United States citizens "the right to acknowledge God according to the dictates of conscience." However, not all religions concern themselves with the worship of God, so that, under Mr. Istook's amendment, non-theistic religions like Buddhism and Taoism would apparently fail to be deserving of the same protections afforded to theistic religions like Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

If and when Mr. Istook's constitutional amendment finally comes up for Congressional consideration, I hope our representatives will hold it to the same standard of religious freedom that they held the Russian legislation.

ALASDAIR DENVIL

Richmond, July 26, 1997

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Johnson's Russia List

#1097

29 July 1997

djohnson@cdi.org