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West Wing : Season 2 <-- Index --> Shibboleth Issues: asylum, persecution of Christians in China, recess appointment, gay Jesus Bartlet has to decide what to do about a boatload of Chinese citizens who claim to be seeking asylum (1) on the basis that they are persecuted in China for being Christians (2). Bartlet tries appointing Leo's sister as a recess appointment (3). Sam gets upset that religious leaders aren't condemning those who are condemning a play depicting a gay Jesus (4). (back to top) Asylum (Last updated: June 3, 2001) For decades, the United States has granted asylum to people who are physically present in the United States and are unwilling to return to their country of origin because of persecution or a "well-founded fear" of such persecution. There are no legal limits on how many people may be granted asylum, but the process conducted by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is difficult for those without legal representation. Claims of persecution must be based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. China's one-child policy was not deemed acceptable grounds when first considered by the INS in 1989 but federal law was amended in 1996 so that people fleeing forced abortions or sterilization would be considered persecuted on account of political opinion. In 1999, about 55,000 people applied for asylum, adding to a backlog of around 400,000 cases. INS asylum officers granted 13,220 applications that year while denying or referring 21,303 for an overall approval rate of 38.2 percent. The largest number of asylum seekers in 1999 came from China (5,218 people) with an approval rate of 23.7 percent. This included hundreds of asylum seekers whose boats landed on Guam, a U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean; the asylum-seekers were placed in a Guam detention facility and an overflow "tent city," and though some were taken to the United States and allowed to apply for asylum, many were returned to China. After China, large numbers of asylum-seekers in 1999 came from, in order, Somalia (3,147 applicants and a 71.4 percent approval rate), Haiti (2,977 applicants and a 7.6 percent approval rate), El Salvador (2,783 applicants and a 11.4 percent approval rate), Guatemala (2,716 applicants and a 13.6 percent approval rate) and Mexico (2,542 applicants and a 2.3 percent approval rate). Sources: The United States Committee on Refugees, current United States report available here and a report on US asylum law relating to China's one-child policy available here. The Immigration and Naturalization Service on asylum is available here. Religious persecution in China (Last updated: June 3, 2001) China's policy towards religion has loosened since the days of Mao Tse-Tung, but critics say that the government continues to persecute on the basis of religion. Christianity is spreading rapidly in China and practitioners have reported incidents of persecution, but the main target of religious persecution since early 1999 seems to be the Falun Gong spiritual movement. The United States has urged China for several years to improve its treatment of religion. In September 1999, US Secretary of State Madeline Albright designated China as a "country of particular concern" under the International Religious Freedom Act for particularly severe violations of religious freedom. A State Department report issued in September 2000 notes that during the last six months of 1999 "the Government's respect for religious freedom deteriorated markedly, especially for the Falun Gong and Tibetan Buddhists, and the Government's repression and abuses continued during the first 6 months of 2000." Officially, the Chinese Constitution provides for freedom of religious belief and the criminal law states that government officials depriving citizens of religious freedom can be sentenced to prison time. Government figures reported in 1997 that there were more than 200 million religious adherents, including 100 million Buddhists, 20 million Muslims, and 10 to 15 million Protestants. Even so, as noted above, the government seeks to restrict religious practice to government-sanctioned organizations and has cracked down on religious activities that were not so approved. China has focused in particular on the Falun Gong movement that first came to public attention in early 1999 and that was officially banned as a cult in October 1999; the US State Department says that there are credible reports of abuse and torture of detained Falun Gong practitioners. Estimates differ on how many Falun Gong practitioners there are in China; the government says 2.1 million people, while experts say there are tens of millions. Reports indicate that China generally tolerates various denominations of Christianity but with some troubling exceptions. China does recognize a Catholic Church (though it has not established diplomatic relations with the Holy See) but has allegedly cracked down on and destroyed unregistered Catholic churches. At the same time, the government has approved the printing and import of Bibles, and there are reportedly more than 22 million Bibles in print in China. Some of the Chinese government's fears undoubtedly stem from the Taiping Rebellion of the 1800s, a nearly successful rebellion led by a man who believed himself to be Jesus's Chinese brother. Sources: The 2000 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom, by the United States Department of State's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, available here. The Human Rights Wach report on China is available here. Gay Jesus (last updated July 2001) Protests surrounded the 1998 production of Corpus Christi, a play that depicted the life of Jesus as a gay man who had sex with his disciples. The play was by written by Terrence McNally, a playwright who has won the prestigious Tony award for the musical Ragtime and was nominated recently for the musical The Fully Monty; McNally said the play was inspired by the 1998 murder of University of Wyoming student Mathew Shepard. Due to the protests and threats of violence, the Manhattan Theater Club dropped the play from its fall schedule but then reversed its decision a few days later. Surrounded by protests, the play had its premiere in October 1998. Controversy followed the play, and when it premiered in 1999, a relatively obscure and extreme Islamic group reportedly issued a fatwa against McNally. Ironically, McNally's play is not the first dramatic portrayal of a gay Jesus to elicit such protests; it is just the first one to actually exist. In the 1980s, millions of people wrote letters to the Attorney Generals of Illinois and Alabama protesting an allegedly upcoming movie that portrayed Jesus as gay (what a state's legal office could do without violating the First Amendment was apparently not made quite clear). The movie did not actually exist, though a suburban Chicago publication apparently had reported in 1977 that such a movie was being planned. The news spread from there through chain letters and took on such a life of its own that the Attorney General of Illinois asked Ann Landers in 1985 to help debunk the story and stop the thousands of chain letters his office received each month. Landers did print the Attorney General's letter and urged her readers to throw out any letters they got on the topic. Sources: Urban Legends Reference Page (Gay Jesus Film), available on-line here. Recess appointments (last updated July 2001) Usually, under Article II section 2 of the Constitution, any presidential nominations of judges, Cabinet secretaries, ambassadors, and high-level federal officials, must be approved by the Senate before taking effect. However, the Constitution's very next clause does allow an exception to this process. It reads: "The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of the next session." People appointed in such a way will serve until the end of the next session (each Congress is split into two sessions lasting about one year each) and then generally must be confirmed by the Senate in order to continue holding the position. Even Supreme Court justices can be appointed in this way; 15 have served on the high bench in the course of American history, with the most recent being Potter Stewart in 1958. Originally a measure to allow the President to fill vacancies during the many months that the Senate would be in recess back when long-distance travel was difficult, the recess-appointment power has also become a way for presidents to appoint people whose nominations have been controversial for one reason or another. One self-imposed limitation on this power has been a general practice since the 1980s by which the president informs the Senate before a recess of any upcoming recess appointments; the president generally holds off on nominees who turn out to be controversial until after the recess. During Bill Clinton's two terms, several recess appointments were controversial. In December 1997, Clinton apparently considered giving Bill Lann Lee a recess appointment as assistant attorney general for civil rights, but then appointed him to the position in an acting capacity instead. In June 1999, Clinton gave James Hormel a recess appointment as Ambassador to Luxembourg after Hormel's nomination was held up due to objections based on Hormel being gay. Shortly before leaving office, Clinton gave a recess appointment to Roger Gregory as a judge on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Clinton made about 140 recess appointments during his two terms. George Bush made about 80, Reagan made about 240, and Carter made about 70 during their terms in office. Sources: Congressional Research Service, Recess Appointments made by President Clinton, dated January 26, 2001. CNN, Capitol Questions with Ilona Nickels, available on-line here.		Home / Calendar The West Wing The Daily Show with Jon Stewart The Colbert Report Saturday Night Live Commander in Chief Law & Order * Issues Resources Site FAQ Search via Google Ripped from the Headlines? West Wing: Santos discusses a lawsuit about intelligent design West Wing: Electoral map as of the 10/9 episode; Santos needs to catch up big-time SNL: The Miers nomination South Park: Inspired by Katrina Boston Legal: End to assault-weapons ban Daily Show: A 2004 study found that 21 percent of young people regularly get their campaign news from comedy shows like the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Saturday Night Live. So, some footnotes. NOTE: All photos are copyright their respective owners.
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