Leaders of underground Protestant church groups in Vietnam have called on the government in unprecedented talks to end discrimination against them and let them worship freely.
A group of six Protestant pastors made the call in a petition to government officials this week at the talks in the capital Hanoi. The pastors are also campaigning against new laws on religion they fear will be used to suppress them.
In their petition, the pastors called for unofficial, so-called house churches to be allowed to hold services “in times and places of their convenience -- places such as their homes, their chapels and their churches and other locations”.
They also urged authorities to “stop the discrimination” against members of house churches, so named because they usually meet secretly in people’s homes.
Vietnam, united under communist rule in 1975, permits six religions including Protestantism and Catholicism, to operate.
The government requires all religious groups to register and to seek permission for activities including leadership appointments, clergy training and printing of literature.
People who refuse to register with the government attend House churches, whose members are believed to number around 1 million. Members say they face police harassment, fines, beatings and detention.
The pastors told Reuters they presented their petition, signed by 50 house-church leaders, to officials at the Ministry of Public Security, the government office and the Fatherland Front, the umbrella group for the Communist Party.
One of the pastors said from now on, they would speak with a united voice.
“If any worship place has a problem, we will raise our voice again, but not privately like before, now we come together as a true fellowship of 50 denominations,” said Pham Dinh Nhan, president of the Vietnam Evangelical Fellowship.
“County of concern”
The petition was addressed to Vietnam’s highest leaders including Nong Duc Manh, the general secretary of the Communist Party, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, President Tran Duc Luong and Nguyen Van An, chairman of the National Assembly.
Government officials were not immediately available for comment.
The rare challenge comes weeks after the United States designated Vietnam as a “country of particular concern”, one of eight countries accused of violating religious freedoms and which may be subject to sanctions.
The pastors also oppose new laws on religion, due to come into effect on Nov. 15.
The laws are contained in an ordinance on beliefs and religion, which will codify regulations already governing religious activities. The laws confirm that all religious bodies must be registered in order to operate.
Authorities deny the ordinance will curb freedom but say it should help apply uniform standards to religious activities, leaving less room for varying interpretations by officials.
The pastors’ five-page petition urges the government to reconsider the ordinance, which it says, “contains articles which are against the Constitution” on religious freedom.
Nhan, who with the five other pastors were returning to Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam on Friday following their weeklong visit to Hanoi, said the groups were united in their determination to oppose the law.
“If they don’t want to change, we will unite together to protect ourselves,” he told Reuters on Friday.