Interestingly, authorities chose to register only the 18 smaller churches of the Hmong, most with leaders not considered strong, of the 534 that applied. Pastors of larger, more vigorous Hmong churches have said they will refuse to register if these are the “benefits” of doing so. Elsewhere, about 50 house church organizations have agreed that they should try to register their activities according to the new religion legislation. But the church leaders say that the highly intrusive nature of some of the questions they must answer are unnecessary and incompatible with religious freedom. House church leaders refused to comply with a procedure requiring the signing of a pledge to obey the decrees of local officials without any specification of what these decrees might be. In some parts of the country, such local officials have often capriciously harassed and persecuted Christians in spite of laws to the contrary. Yet without receiving registration, these house churches representing more than 200,000 Christians will remain illegal.

One house church leader also reported obtaining a new internal government document indicating a strong push by Vietnam to gather information about all Christian groups – to decide on that basis which ones are eligible for registration. According to the new directive, he said, Christians not considered to have a “genuine need for religion” are to be mobilized and persuaded “to return to their traditional beliefs and practices.”

10 – Democracy, Afghan Style

An avalanche of media coverage of an Afghan man facing the death penalty for converting to Christianity apparently prompted the arrest and deepening harassment of other Afghan Christians in the ultra-conservative Muslim country. Authorities arrested Abdul Rahman, then 41, in February for the “crime” of leaving Islam for Christianity. Compass confirmed the arrest of two other Afghan Christians. Another Afghan convert to Christianity was beaten severely outside his home by six men who ultimately knocked him unconscious with a hard blow to his temple. He regained consciousness in the hospital two hours later. Several other Afghan Christians were subjected to police raids on their homes and workplaces, as well as to telephone threats.

Rahman faced the death penalty for the “crime” of converting from Islam to Christianity in mid-March, but after international pressure he was released and whisked out of the country. Although Islamist militants have captured and murdered at least five Afghan Christians in the past two years for abandoning Islam, Rahman’s case was the local judiciary’s first known prosecution case for apostasy in recent decades. Prosecutor Abdul Wasi called Rahman a traitor to Islam. “We are Muslims, and becoming a Christian is against our laws,” the prosecutor reportedly said. “He must get the death penalty.”

Rahman’s plight dramatized the judicial paradox within Afghanistan’s constitution, ratified in January 2004. Although it guarantees freedom of religion to non-Muslims, it also prohibits laws that are “contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam.” At the same time, the constitution obliges the state to abide by the treaties and conventions it has signed, which include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In outlining freedoms of thought, conscience and religion, Article 18 of this convention explicitly guarantees “freedom to change [one’s] religion or belief.”

Copyright 2007 Compass Direct News