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Both Christian conservatives and liberals are worried that proposed legislation to expand the surveillance powers of the federal government could undermine religious liberty. Responding to their concerns, Attorney General John Ashcroft says he is seeking the right balance between freedom and security in the post-9/11 world.

After September 11, 2001, President Bush and Ashcroft shifted the Department of Justice's goal from prosecuting terrorists to preventing terrorism.

"It's a fundamental and unprecedented shift," Viet Dinh, a former assistant attorney general who teaches at the Georgetown University Law Center, told Christianity Today. "We are fighting guerrilla warfare on steroids, an attempt [by terrorists] to destabilize and defeat the Western order."

That battle is unsettling to some. About eight months ago, a Justice Department employee leaked a draft of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act, dubbed Patriot II after the initial USA Patriot Act. Patriot I passed after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. That law will expire in December 2005. Congress will hold hearings in the fall on Patriot II, a bill that may:

• Grant federal investigators greater freedom in collecting private information on individuals who may be associated with terrorism.
  
  
• Broaden the extent of permissible covert surveillance of individuals linked to terrorism.
  
  
• Allow American citizens to be stripped of citizenship and expelled if they are members or material supporters of terrorist organizations actively opposed to the United States.
  
  

Some evangelical leaders expressed concern to Ashcroft in late March about enacting Patriot II measures they saw in the leaked document.

The White House later held a meeting with 150 evangelicals, including Josh McDowell, James Dobson, Eugene Habecker, Erwin Lutzer, and Jay Sekulow. Some participants quoted Gordon England, deputy director of Homeland Security, as saying new threats require giving up some freedoms. "We may need to make some compromises," England said. "For example, the stop sign takes away some of our freedom. But it gives us freedom back, too, in the assurance that we can drive safely."

Ashcroft, however, says he is deeply committed to safeguarding civil liberties from long-term encroachments. "Our rights don't come from government. They come from God," he told evangelical leaders. "We work hard for security, but we don't abandon liberty."

Dinh, a former refugee from Vietnam, has listened to the concerns of conservative groups. The Department of Justice does not want the United States to become "the boy in the bubble—security without liberty," he told CT. "It's not an America I would want to live in."

Christians have already seen tangible results come from complaining to the administration. Dick Armey, a former congressman from Texas, led a fight to strengthen civil liberties in Patriot I.

Ashcroft and others in the Bush administration accepted an expiration date in the legislation. The administration also dropped a much-criticized citizen watch program.

Evangelicals have many allies on the issue. The liberal American Civil Liberties Union, a prominent critic of the anti-terror measures, says 141 communities in 26 states have passed resolutions in opposition. Protests have occurred in San Francisco and other cities.

In July, the House of Representatives, in a bipartisan move, voted against funding covert searches in criminal investigations. Patriot I allows them to take place.

Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals worries about Patriot II's unintended consequences for overseas missionaries: "What you sanction here will be used by others overseas against you." He said mission leaders worry that foreign governments will feel greater freedom to detain and deport American missions personnel without due process.

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September 2003, Vol. 47, No. 9