Resolution of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst
Approved February 3, 2002
The Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst is concerned that actions of the attorney General of the United States and the U.S. Justice Department since the September 11, 200 1, terrorist attacks pose significant threats to Constitutional protections in the name of fighting terrorism. Such undermining of basic civil rights and liberties runs the serious risk of destroying freedom in order to save it.
The Attorney General asserted before the Senate Judiciary Committee that civil libertarians who criticized the Department's policies "aid terrorists, erode our national unity and diminish our resolve." We disagree. We believe that respect for Constitutional rights is essential for the preservation of democratic society.
The members of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst go on record in support of Constitutional rights for all residents of the United States, regardless of their citizenship, religion, ethnicity, or place of national origin.
We encourage citizens as well as state and town employees of Western Massachusetts, to the extent legally possible, not to cooperate with federal investigators seeking to interrogate people on the basis of their ethnicity, their religious beliefs, or the beliefs of their families and friends, following the example of police departments in Oregon, California, and Texas, among others, that have refused to carry out such interviews.
We believe that we are still a nation based on laws and that a threat to any one person's Constitutional rights is a threat to the rights of us all.