HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Protestant Christians and leaders of other faiths in Vietnam are criticizing a new decree on religion that went into effect this year as a significant step backward, with one Christian activist saying it could put an end to the house-church movement.
The Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship called for fasting and prayer the last three days of January over threats posed by the new decree, which require a minimum of 23 years for unregistered congregations to obtain legal recognition.
The purpose of Decree 92 ostensibly was to clear up ambiguities in the former decree, Decree 22, but critics from all faiths agreed that Decree 92 is much more restrictive than what it replaced. They also concurred that it gives the government more legal tools for control and even repression of religion.
Chapter III of the decree introduces a new distinction between “religious meetings” and “religious activities” or operations; both must be registered before an organization is eligible to apply for full legal recognition. Religious meetings appear to be confined to communal worship and prayer. Only at the religious activities stage, according to Article 3 of the ordinance, is a congregation allowed to be involved in “the preaching and practice of tenets, principles and rites, and organizational management.”
Once registered, church organizations must comply with onerous requirements. The decree requires that a full annual plan must be submitted to commune-level officials by every congregation each October; no deviation is allowed without a long, cumbersome appeals process that is unreasonable, church leaders said.
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