Congressional Research Service Reports - 13 Matching Results
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- China's Treatment of Religious Practices
- From abstract: This report provides a brief background on religions in the People's Republic of China and discusses official Chinese government attitudes toward religious observance.
- Russia’s Religion Law: Assessments and Implications
- This short report provides an overview and assessment of the Russian religion law. On September 26, 1997, Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the religion bill into law, and implementing regulations were promulgated in early 1998. The Administration and Congress have raised concerns that the law may restrict religion and have urged Russia to uphold its international commitments to religious freedom.
- Special Provisions for Religion in the Tax Code
- This report lists a number of tax provisions which accommodate religious groups in a special way. There is no attempt to analyze these provisions, other than to briefly note the special treatment.
- Immigration-Related Provisions of the ”International Religious Freedom Act” (p. l. 105-292)
- Report on the International Religious Freedom Act and how it affects asylum-based immigration, including training, guidelines, studies of expedited removal, and the exclusion of religious persecutors.
- Legislative Prayer and School Prayer: The Constitutional Difference
- The Supreme Court's decisions holding government-sponsored prayer in the public schools to violate the First Amendment's establishment clause but prayer in legislative assemblies to be constitutional are sometimes lifted up as contradictory. This report summarizes the relevant decisions and identifies the distinctions the Court has drawn between the two situations.
- Afghanistan: Connections to Islamic Movements In Central and South Asia and Southern Russia
- After several years of relative peace in Central Asia and southern Russia, Islamic extremist movements have become more active in Russia and in Central and South Asia, threatening stability in the region. Although numerous factors might account for the upsurge in activity, several of these movements appear to have connections to the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime in Afghanistan. These linkages raise questions about whether the United States, as part of a broader effort to promote peace and stability in the region, should continue to engage the Taliban regime, or strongly confront it. This report will be updated as events warrant.
- Russia's Religion Law: Assessments and Implications
- This short report provides an overview and assessment of Russian religion law. On September 26, 1997, Russian President Boris Yeltsin signed the religion bill into law, and implementing regulations were promulgated in early 1998. The Administration and Congress have raised concerns that the law may restrict religion and have urged Russia to uphold its international commitments to religious freedom. The FY1998 Foreign Aid Appropriations Act (P.L. 105-118) prohibits the Freedom Support Act aid to Russia unless the President determines and certifies that the Russian government has not discriminated against religious groups in violation of its international commitments. The determination was released on May 26, 1998, finding that Russia has not violated such commitments, but that U.S. officials would continue to monitor the situation.
- Legislative Prayer and School Prayer: The Constitutional Difference
- Congressional Research Service (CRS) report entailing the Constitutional difference between legislative prayer and school prayer. Topics include, descriptions of both types of prayer, their distinctions, and a conclusion on the matter.
- The Religious Freedom Amendment: H.J. Res. 78, As Reported by the House Judiciary Committee
- This report details the legislative, political, and legal contexts of H.J.Res 78 (Religious Freedom Amendment) and analyzes its legal effect.
- The Law of Church and State: The Proposed Religious Freedom Amendment, H.J. Res. 78
- This report summarizes legislative developments on the proposal and briefly analyzes its likely legal effect if added to the Constitution.
- Immigration-Related Provisions of Selected Bills on Religious Persecution
- This report analyzes immigration-related provisions of H.R. 2431, the “Freedom from Religious Persecution Act,” as passed by the House on May 14, 1998, and S. 1868, the “International Religious Freedom Act,” as introduced in the Senate.
- Religious Persecution Abroad: Congressional Concerns and Actions
- The 105 Congress has sought to raise the priority of combating religious persecution worldwide among U.S. foreign policy objectives. The difficulty has been in agreeing on legislation that would effectively deal with religious persecution without adversely affecting other important U.S. interests. On May 14, 1998, the House passed H.R. 2431 (the Freedom from Religious Persecution Act of 1998) establishing in the State Department a Director of the Office of Religious Persecution Monitoring who is to issue an annual report assessing religious persecution abroad. The legislation places sanctions on countries and groups that carry out or permit such activities. The Senate may soon consider S. 1868 establishing an office in the Department of State to monitor religious persecution headed by an Ambassador at Large and requiring the President to take some action from a broad list of options against countries found engaging in or tolerating religious persecution.
- The Religious Freedom Restoration Act: Its Rise, Fall, and Current Status
- This report briefly summarizes Employment Division, Oregon Department of Human Resources v. Smith, the legislative history of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), the Supreme Court's decision in City of Boerne, Texas v. Flores, and RFRA's current legal status, and notes the introduction of the Religious Liberty Protection Act (RLPA).