DATE: Saturday, November 1, 1997            TAG: 9710310087

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: From Staff and wire reports 

                                            LENGTH:   41 lines

NEWS AND NOTES

John Morison named to

top NCCJ Virginia post

John R. Morison, president and general manager of Hampton Roads' public TV station, WHRO, has been chosen president of the Virginia board of directors of the National Conference of Christians and Jews.

The NCCJ is a human relations organization devoted to fighting bias, bigotry and racism in America.

Morison has been a member of the NCCJ's Virginia regional board of directors since 1990 and previously was president of the Tidewater chapter. He received the group's national Brotherhood Citation in 1993.

Morison has been chief executive officer of WHRO since 1975.

Albright criticizes bill

on religious persecution

U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has criticized a bill aimed at reducing religious persecution, saying it could damage aspects of U.S. foreign policy.

The Freedom from Religious Persecution Act, introduced by Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., would create a White House Office for Religious Persecution Monitoring to punish other countries persecuting religious groups.

The Christian Coalition, based in Chesapeake, identified passage of the bill as one of its top priorities this year.

``Although well-intentioned, this bill would create an artificial hierarchy among human rights with the right to be free from torture and murder shoved along with others into second place,'' Albright said in an address at The Catholic University of America in Washington. ``It would also establish a new and unneeded bureaucracy and deprive U.S. officials of the flexibility required to protect the overall foreign policy interests of the United States.''

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