Vietnamese authorities Pressure New christians to Recant

[joanne_h]

Posted: Wednesday, 26 November 2008, 1:40 (EST)Authorities in Lao Cai Province in Vietnam's far north are pressuring new Christians among the Hmong minority to recant their faith and to re-establish ancestral altars, according to area church leaders, in violation of Vietnam's new religion policy.Compass Direct News reports that local authorities warned that on Sunday (Nov. 23) they would come in force to Ban Gia Commune and Lu Siu Tung village, Bac Ha district, where the Christians reside, but they did not say what they would do. When the authorities in Bac Ha district in Vietnam's Northwest Mountainous Region discovered that villagers had converted to Christianity and discarded their altars, they sent 'work teams' to the area to apply pressure, Compass Direct said. Earlier this month they sent seven high officials - including Ban Gia Deputy Commune Chief Thao Seo Pao, district Police Chief A. Cuong and district Security Chief A. Son - to try to convince the converts that the government considered becoming a Christian a very serious offense. Compass Direct also reports that Christian leaders in the area said threats included being cut off from any government services. When this failed to deter the new Christians, they said, the officials threatened to drive the Christians from their homes and fields, harm them physically and put them in prison."When the Christians refused to buckle under the threats, a leader of the Christians, Chau Seo Giao, was summoned daily to the commune headquarters for interrogation. He refused to agree to lead his people back to their animistic beliefs and practices," Compass reported. Giao asked the authorities to put their orders to recant the Christian faith into writing. The officials declined, with one saying, "We have complete authority in this place. We do not have to put our orders into writing." They held Giao for a day and night without food and water before releasing him. He is still required to report daily for "work sessions." Compass Direct reported that in September, Hmong evangelists of the Vietnam Good News Church had traveled to the remote Ban Gia Commune where it borders Ha Giang province. Within a month, some 20 families numbering 108 people in Lu Siu Tung village had become Christians and had chosen Giao to be their leading elder. The Compass report says: "Rapid growth of Christianity among Vietnam's ethnic minorities in the northwest provinces has long worried authorities. There were no Protestant believers in the region in 1988, and today there are an estimated 300,000 in many hundreds of congregations. As recently as 2003, official government policy, according to top secret documents acquired by Vietnam Christians leaders, was the 'eradication' of Christianity."

 

[tim_from_pa]

Jesus warned that we would all be persecuted for our faith, some more than others. So this is no surprise, and in that respect I do not even advocate the "right" to practice free of persecution the way the world does, as the Lord allows this to refine his church.However, that being said, if the shoe was on the other foot and the free nations here did the same to a Hindu, for example, you'd hear no end to it. However, the news media somehow glosses over this type of behavior in 3rd world nations in spite of the "human rights" mantra.Where's human rights for ALL sides when one needs them? I get tired of the pot always calling the kettle black and am tired of these nations that apparently do not have mirrors.