A tiny step has been taken on the road to religious freedom in Vietnam. According to the news service Compass Direct, “For the first time since the communist takeover in 1975, authorities in Vietnam have granted legal recognition to a Protestant organization in the south.”
The World Evangelical Fellowship (WEF) reports that Le Quang Vinh, head of the Vietnamese government’s Bureau of Religious Affairs, wrote March 23 to the newly elected president of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (ECVN) in the southern part of the country.
According to the WEF report, “Quang Vinh said that on behalf of the prime minister, he was happy to inform the ECVN that the government authorities had approved the new church constitution, recognized the results of the church elections, and would advise provincial authorities to accommodate the new developments.”
In effect, the WEF stated, “this means that the Vietnamese government has allowed the ECVN to exist without tight government control and that it recognizes the right of the church to elect its own officers and administer its own affairs. This is very good news and indicates a positive change in the government’s attitude toward the Evangelical Church in Vietnam, which has had serious legal difficulties in the past.”
A ceremony marking the occasion was held at the Saigon Church in Ho Chi Minh City April 3. That evening, ECVN leaders also held a special celebration to mark the 90th anniversary of the coming of the Protestant faith to Vietnam.
The director of WEF’s Religious Liberty Commission, Johan Candelin, expressed his gratitude to the Vietnamese government: “We would like to take this opportunity to commend the Vietnamese authorities for extending these new freedoms to the Evangelical Church.”
According to the U.S. State Department, at least 13 religious detainees are being held in Vietnamese prisons without charge. VOM sources believe hundreds of Christians are currently imprisoned. The State Department admits official numbers may not be accurate because often Vietnamese are held under “administrative detention,” which is not publicized.
Tom White, Voice of the Martyrs director, visited Vietnam in 2000 and met with members of a church in the city of Thu Thiem, not far from Ho Chi Minh City. The small group of Christians erected a tent like structure on land they had purchased for that purpose. Discussions with local officials led the church members to believe they had permission to build. But police soon destroyed the structure.
Compass Direct reports that most observers see the government approval of ICVN “as a positive development, but they warn it is only one step on the long road to religious freedom in this Southeast Asian nation.”
“Vietnam cannot expect that criticism will cease with this modest concession that covers only a fraction of Vietnam’s evangelical Protestant believers,” a Vietnamese source told Compass. “The ECVN south should move courageously into the space being offered and reach out to the large excluded parts of their faith community.” (BP)
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