Vietnam's Controversial New Religion Law Now In Effect
A new law went into effect yesterday that could perpetuate and justify severe persecution of the churches of Vietnam by authorities.
A new law went into effect yesterday that could perpetuate and justify severe persecution of the churches of Vietnam by authorities. The proposed law on religion, which was issued on June 18, purportedly guarantees religious freedom in one of its articles but uses most of the remaining 40 for detailing a long series of complicated regulations to insure close state management of religious activity.
"[The Ordinance] will create many problems and disadvantages for the church, especially for our gatherings for worship,” the Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship (VEF) wrote in a statement released on Aug. 30. “At the same time, it is likely to permanently outlaw our house church organizations, none of which have been recognized since 1975. Many articles in this ordinance will also provide a legal basis for local authorities to hinder and persecute the church."
The Religious Liberty Commission (RLC) of the World Evangelical Alliance, in a pervious statement, said that the government might use the new Ordinance to perpetuate and justify its severe persecution of the Church, which it accuses of being a threat to communal harmony and national security.
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“The Ordinance offers full religious freedom to all, but promises to crush anyone or anything that threatens communal harmony or national security,” the RLC reported.
Dr. Carl Moeller, president of Open Doors USA, told Mission Network News (MNN) that the Vietnamese Evangelical Fellowship was alarmed at what the Ordinance would mean for believers, the church and the future of the evangelistic movement.
"This law, potentially has the impact of restricting amazing amounts of activity that are going on in the Vietnamese church right now,” Moeller said. “God's been doing wonderful things there, but this law presents itself as a great threat to the growth of the church there."
Concerned at the “chilling effect” the law is expected to have on evangelistic work, Moeller thinks harassment may become outright persecution. "If, in fact, this law does prove to be as restrictive as many of the believers in Vietnam fear, it may create a new wave of arrests, imprisonments, and we've already seen that begin to happen with the arrest of several Mennonite pastors for simply doing ministry in an unregistered church."
According to Compass Direct, in addition to the call for prayer, pastors and leaders from more than 50 house churches and indigenous mission organizations signed a petition delivered in Hanoi on Sept. 27 appealing to Vietnam's Communist Party leadership to allow greater religious freedom in Vietnam and re-think the new religious law.
Moeller reports, however, that little news has come out of the country regarding the outcome of this and other petitions.
Meanwhile, house church leaders in Vietnam have requested for urgent prayer for Christians in the socialist nation who are now under the new restrictive law on religion.
