with support from local authorities, with new allegations of political pressure on believers in Vietnam, BosNewsLife established Wednesday, August 24.
"Local authorities keep saying that evangelical Christianity is very evil," Christian Aid Mission (CAM), quoted one of its workers as saying in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. "They try to dissuade people from believing. A number of people get scared and turn away," said CAM, which supports native missionaries.
Believers report that as part of the alleged anti-Christian policy, Vietnamese university students are being sent to rural villages in Vietnam as Communist ‘missionaries’ "to preach Ho Chi Minh’s Communist philosophies." They publicly criticize all religious belief and pressure local Christians to abandon their faith, missionaries said.
It was expected to raise doubts among human rights groups about Vietnam’s openly declared intention to give more rights to evangelical groups and unregistered house churches in the country.
WATCHED AND THREATENED
Vietnamese officials could not be reached for comment. US-backed CAM said in a statement to BosNewsLife in Bangkok that it also received "multiple reports of native missionaries being watched, threatened or interrupted in evangelistic activities by local government officials."
In comments released by CAM one unidentified missionary claimed he was threatened by a Communist secretary who allegedly told him: "You must not proclaim evangelical Christianity to other people, otherwise you shall be arrested."
In another instance, "a government distribution of monthly support to poor families who lost relatives in the Vietnam War was refused to Christians in one area," CAM said. "If those people desire to get their support back they must renounce their religion," CAM quoted "a government official" as saying.
LAOS VILLAGERS ATTACKED
While these reports could not be independently confirmed, BosNewsLife has established a similar policy in neighboring Laos. Christians in several villages told BosNewsLife some had lost their state jobs for refusing to renounce their faith in Christ.
"The Communist authorities see Christianity as a threat to their powerbase and ideology," said Jim Jacobson, president of advocacy group Christian Freedom International (CFI), which supports persecuted Christians in South East Asia.
Analysts have also linked the measures against Christians to misgivings over the United States-led war on terrorism in the region and Washington’s push for more freedom, the kind of criticism that put Communists in an uneasy alliance with Muslim militants.
CHRISTIANITY "FOREIGN RELIGION"
Christianity is often seen as a foreign, Western backed religion, CAM and other organizations say. CAM said it was especially concerned about a "Muslim backlash against Christians," following two confirmed attacks on native missionaries in Pakistan. Christians "are seen by many Pakistanis as tied to often-reviled America," CAM claimed.
"Native ministry leaders report that, several weeks ago, a missionary was visited by three Muslim men late at night. As soon as the missionary opened the door to admit them, the men held him up at gunpoint and locked him, with his family, in a back room. The men then searched his house for two hours, stealing Bibles and Christian literature as well as blankets intended for orphaned children," CAM said in the statement to BosNewsLife.
"The attackers destroyed what they could not steal, including a computer and motorbike. Their parting words were a death threat to the missionary," CAM added.
In another incident, CAM claimed that "a few days later, a team of five young Gospel workers witnessing in a North Pakistan village were surrounded by 300 Muslim extremists who began beating them. The men were dragged to a local police station, where policemen refused to let gathering reporters photograph the victims. Thankfully, all missionaries have since been released."
NUMBER OF REFUGEES
CAM said it had learned from "ministry leaders" in Pakistan the attacks have led to an increase in refugees seeking shelter at mission centers or asylum in other countries. There are also fears of attacks against churches in Thailand, where intelligence officials have been quoted as saying they already expected a major attack this month.
Over 100 people already died since last year in several bomb attacks carried out by Muslim militants and subsequent fighting in southern Thailand. This is expected to increase pressure on the up to 160,000 Christian Karen refugees from neighboring Burma seeking shelter in Thailand, BosNewsLife noticed.
"It has become clear that we as a Body of Christ should at least remember the suffering Christians" in this region, said CFI President Jacobson.
