9 – Vietnam’s Forlorn Pastors

Some Vietnamese church leaders were disappointed when the U.S. State Department removed Vietnam from the list of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom in 2006. On November 13, the state department declined to re-designate Vietnam as a Country of Particular Concern after including the country on the list for two years. The department cited steps the Communist regime had taken after enacting new religion laws banning forced renunciations of faith, opening once-closed churches, and clarifying how churches can register. Compass did not report on the state department decision, which received broad mainstream media coverage, but rather on the concerns that Vietnamese church leaders voiced – largely ignored – before the decision was made.

While U.S. diplomats claimed hundreds of Vietnamese churches had reopened, were operating freely and were getting registered, pastors in the country saw progress as modest at best. After U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom John Hanford visited Vietnam in September, two church leaders there told Compass they were surprised that he later asserted there was “enormous progress” in religious freedom in the country. A major point of contention is the number of Vietnamese congregations that have registered. Of the legally recognized Evangelical Church of Vietnam (North), only 32 of its 1,214 congregations have been recognized, or 2.5 percent. Of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (South), some 475 of its 1,600 churches have been registered, or 29 percent. Combined, 18 percent of the churches of the two ECVN groups registered. Compass sources in the country estimate only about 240 of the non-ECVN churches registered, or 16 percent of 1,500. In total, only about 750 of 4,350 congregations, or 17 percent, were registered by year’s end.

Nor does local registration – only a one-year permission – always appear to allow the churches to operate “freely.” When 18 of 534 Hmong churches who applied learned that their registrations had been accepted in September, some Vietnamese pastors pointed out that since being forced to list members by name under the registration rules, their churches have suffered numerous and wide-ranging threats and intrusive actions by local authorities. Police and officials who long persecuted the Hmong, for example, now sit in some of their church services as observers. In some churches, authorities prohibited anyone under 14 years old from attending. In other churches, authorities did not accept the leadership and forced congregations to choose another under their supervision. Authorities have also checked the attendance of some churches against membership lists and expelled any visitors or guests, the leaders said. Government officials have tried to stop the movement of respected church leaders and teachers, and they have even dictated the order of service.