EDITORIAL
New law preserves
religious freedom
Although someone will undoubtedly try to abuse it. a
now law signed by President Clinton on Tuesday to
restore one aspect of religious freedom is a step in the
right direction.
The bill, which would legalize the use of controlled
substances in religious ceremonies unless there is a
“compelling governmental interest" in forbidding that
use. will do much to shore up one of America's most
treasured personal liberties, freedom of religion, at a
time when it is increasingly in conflict with the general
laws of the land.
In 1990. the U.S. Supreme Court ruled mat the state of
Oregon could legally prohibit the use of peyote, a mild
hallucinogenic drug, in the ceremonies of the *' itive
American Church, despite the fact that the practice had
been going on for centuries.
The court reasoned that the law did not infringe upon
the churi h members’ First Amendment rights to exon iso
their religion because the laws prohibiting peyote (and
other drugs) were directed at all citizens, not specific al
ly at those people who use peyote for religious reasons.
Prior to this case, the general rule had been that the
sta' • must demonstrate a "compelling governmental
interest" in forbidding the use of controlled substances
in order to bypass the protections of the First Amend
ment.
Exactly what constitutes "compelling governmental
interest" inis not been completely defined, but the same
guideline had been in place for 27 years prior to 1990,
and nothing too terrible happened
One of the main arguments raised against tho bill sug
gests that legalizing the use of drugs for religious cere
monies opens the door for some screwball to found The
Holy Spiritual Church of Heroin, or something else along
those lines.
There is indeed a precedent for that possibility. In the
late 1970s. a prison inmate named Harry Theriault
founded the Church of the New Song and declared him
self the bishop of Tellus. He claimed his First Amend
ment rights were being violated when the warden
refused to provide him and his followers with items that
he said were essential to his religious ceremonies —
included among these worn Chateaubriand and Harvey's
Bristol Cream.
The judge in that caso called the Church of the New
Song a sham, and throw the bishop out of court. Hope
fully, judges will follow his example if and when some
one tries to abuse the freedom granted by this new law.
At the very least, we can hope that the law contains
provisions that allow the use of controlled substances
only in those cases where they are a part of a faith, rather
than that faith's sole reason for existence. Even if the law
doesn’t include such a clause, however, the courts may
still impose those restrictions.
Religious freedom is one of the fundamental tenets of
American liberty. This law may bo abused; it will cer
tainly be tested. But that doesn't moan it shouldn't be on
thn books.
0,,,,Emerald
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OPINION
Economy turning global without NAF! A
Mark sMei.and
On Wednesday night, tho
House of Representatives
voted to ratify the North
American Free Trade Agreement.
Once approved in all three coun
tries, this agreement will create
the world's largest trading block,
with 370 million people in Cana
da. the United States and Mexi
co.
Wait! Stop! Don’t turn the
page! 1 know you're tired of
reading about NAFTA, but if
you'll stay with me. you'll find
that this column isn't about the
North American trading block at
all.
You s(*e, the showdown in the
House wasn't really about NAF
TA. If you listened carefully to
tht> arguments for and against
the agreement, you could hear
another, much more subtle, sub
text.
It was Congress trying to
assert itself. It was politicians
shouting. "Look at us! Here we
are1 You shouldn't have counted
us out! See. we've still got the
power to legislate international
trade!"
They're wrong, of course. The
process of globalization, be it
economic, technological or com
municative. is no longer yvithin
the realm of politicians. They
lost control of it many years ago.
and since that time no legisla
tive body has been able to keep
up with the process.
Sure. NAFTA was a great vic
tory for international trade. But
NAFTA would have happened
even if Congress had voted
against it. It may not have hap
pened on paper, but it would
have happened in real life: NAF'
TA would have lived in the pro
duction plants, in the corporate
boardrooms and. high above our
heads in the telecommunica
tions satellites.
Now that the Cold War is
over, military force is no longer
the major power fat tor govern
ing international relations. His
tory has taken us from the para
digm ol military warfare into the
paradigm of economic competi
tion And in this paradigm, bor
ders become less and less
important.
Hill Clinton was right when
lie dec I a red that with NAFTA
"opening trade in our own
hemisphere, we have the eco
nomic:, the political and the
moral standing to make the c ase
that this can tw done throughout
the world."
The glory days of the nation
state uni over In the next centu
ry. the important political entity
will be the geopolitical region.
At this point, it seems that three
regions will dominate economi
cal. political and cultural affairs:
North America, Europe and
Southeast Asia And if the
process of globalization contin
ues, maybe the next stage will !>e
a global economic entity suc h as
the one envisioned by Clinton.
Hut this process is not planned
and carried out by politicians.
Rather, politicians often stand
dumbfounded and watch the
process from the sidelines. Some
times they resist, unwilling to
accept their impotence.
If politicians aren't the drive
behind the economic globaliza
tion. what is? The answer is sim
chnology.
• rst, the tec hnology of tr i
1,station has made it possible . ,
us to eat fresh pineapples from
Hawaii, drink orange juice from
Florida, and eat pastries from
New York. If you take a close look
at your car. chances are you'll
find parts from at least three dif
ferent continents. Your comput
er is most likely produced some
where in Southeast Asia, even
if it was designed and developed
in the United States or in Europe.
And all of this was made possi
ble because of fast, effective trans
portation technology.
Second, technological anil
industrial specialization has bro
ken up the world into regions
with different degrees of com
petitiveness depending on the
product. The area of specializa
tion could be determined by the
region's natural resources: that's
why they grow oranges in Flori
da and potatos in Idaho. Or it
could be determined by political
and economic factors: that's why
computers can be put together a
lot cheaper with Taiwanese latw.
Third, communications tech
nology has virtually created the
proverbial "global village." Kus
sians watch common ials for Pep
si-Cola on an MTV telecast car
ried by satellite, so they go out to
the store and look f. r Pepsi-Cola
Japanese kids watch "Beverh
Hills 90210" on television, so
they go out and look for the lat
est Californian fashions. And
soon, people all over the world
mav bu> their ( hristmns gifts via
a computer network linking up
producer on one continent with
customers on another.
The fm ' is, international trade
holders an: meaking down ith
or without NAFTA. We're
.ready very close to the creation
of economic regions. In Europe,
the European Community may
soon expand eastward to become
a market even larger than the
North American trading block.
And if Southeast Asian countries
consolidate into a trading blin k
it would be the most populous
and possibly also the most pow
erful - economic region known to
(idle.
1 here an-' o ways of meeting
this challenge. You can either
choose to let it run wild, making
way for international economic
and political anarchy. Or you can
accept that the economy is
becoming global and try to
impose some international legis
lation to establish some sort of
order.
On Wednesday, the House set
tled for the second solution. It
was, in fact, their only choice.
Marius Meland is a columnist
for the Emerald.