Vietnam war rumbles on, Christians branded 'the enemy'
Posted: Sunday, March 30, 2008, 9:09 (BST)
Release International has completed a fact-finding visit and finds the Vietnam War is still rumbling on - with Christians now regarded as the enemy, says one of the leading persecution watchdogs, Release International.
Christians in Vietnam are being targeted as 'agents of America'. They describe torture and near starvation as the authorities threaten to kill them slowly.
Prisoners' wives and a former prisoner have been describing the way Christians from Vietnam's tribal highlands are routinely beaten, tortured and starved behind bars - in a land which supposedly guarantees freedom of religion.
'Esther' and 'Deborah' and former prisoner 'Silas' have been telling Release International about the ordeal suffered in jail by Christians calling for true freedom of worship and the return of land seized by the authorities. They tell their story in the latest edition of the webcast World Update on the Persecuted Church, available on www.releaseinternational.org
They travelled hundreds of miles and have taken a great risk to explode the myth of freedom of religion in Vietnam and to call for prayer and support for Christian prisoners.
Esther described how they set about 'Abraham', her husband, with a wooden club spiked with two long nails. Then they turned a snarling Alsatian on him, before lashing his unconscious body to their Jeep and dragging it along the road.
When they finally permitted Esther to see her husband she says: "He could not recognise me. He was like a dumb man. They had beaten him in the face and broken his jaw. He could not talk."
Esther and Abraham are Christians, from one of the mountain tribes of Vietnam.
"My husband requested freedom for the tribal people, and freedom to worship God." Esther explains. "And he asked for this publicly."
'Job', another Christian prisoner, also called for freedom of worship - a freedom guaranteed under Vietnamese law.
Despite those legal guarantees, the authorities closed Job's village church and confiscated their land - measures commonplace in the tribal highlands of Vietnam, where unregistered Christians are regarded with suspicion as enemy agents working to undermine communism.
They accused Job of being involved with separatists, tortured him to extract a confession and threw him behind bars.
Have your say on this article
The comments below are readers' personal opinions and are in no way intended to reflect the editorial opinion of Christian Today.
Added: Tuesday, April 8, 2008, 12:04 (BST)
In reply to Kenneth Herrmann
Dear Kenneth,
What we have reported is, I'm sad to say, the truth. As a Christian I could settle for nothing less. We are called to watch and pray, to 'speak up for the poor and needy, for those who have no voice'. It doesn't sound very right-wing, does it? Nore does this: 'He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash-heap, to make them sit with the princes of his people.' Psalm 113-7
The gospel is more radical than communism, God's holy justice is always mixed with loving compassion. It utterly transcends politics. So let's leave aside the name-calling and pointless political labels. Please. Next time you go to Vietnam, ask God to show you what is really happening.
Andrew Boyd, Release International
Andrew Boyd, Petersfield UK
Added: Thursday, April 3, 2008, 20:40 (BST)
The persecution against Christians in Vietnam is real and fully documented by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, not to mention the US State Dept and US International Commission of Religious Freedom. For some reason there are ill informed and moronic left wing Americans and other nationalities still defending a brutal authoritarian country like Vietnam. This Kenneth J Hermmann jr is appallingly stupid or otherwise deliberatly lying. Hundreds of indigenous people Degar Montagnards are in prison today and the Hanio government is one of the worst human rights violators in South East Asia. There is a special place in hell for people today like this Moron Kenneth J Hermman who continue to defend such appalling behavior by nations who persecute their indigenous people.
scott johnson, Perth, Australia
Added: Sunday, March 30, 2008, 22:11 (BST)
This article is not, as politicans are prone to say, "a series of mistatements". It is a pack of lies. Christian churces are everywhere throughout Vietnam. They are filled with congregations - all of whom suffer NO persecution. Amazing that right-wing groups like yours proliferate such untruth. Many government officials are Christian. I have made over forty trips to VN since 1998 and have seen the entire country, as a part of my work. The deception you support does nothing to advance human rights in Vietnam.
Kenneth J Herrmann Jr, USA
