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The wholesale disbanding of the ethnic Ede church prompted the president of the ECVN (S) to write a strong complaint letter to the Prime Minister in October. A circular letter was also sent to all churches describing the persecution and asking for prayer. This angered the government. Officials tried to stop pastors from reading the letter in churches. Officials approached one pastor asking if he had received the letter, and if he had to surrender his copy to them. He answered that he had picked it up off the internet, and explained to them that picking up a few paper copies of the letter would do nothing to stop the bad reputation of the government. Only a change in the consistent abuse of Vietnam's minorities could do that, he said.

Vietnam's international public relations try to convince the world that Vietnam is safe, even friendly to religion. But it will take more than this to convince the victims of long-standing persecution that Vietnam is safe for people of Christian faith. An internal police report by officers in Khanh Son District of Khanh Hoa Province, bearing an official seal and signature, was given to me yesterday. It boasted as follows, "During the first six months of 2002 our district public security police, in cooperation with other government departments and organizations, were able to force 18 families with 90 people to abandon Christianity". The report went on to say how the officials of To Hap "supported the activity of getting nine families to abandon Christianity, giving each family 100,000 Vietnamese dong to help persuade them". This is the real government policy for minority Christians— bribe and force Christians to abandon their faith.

Christmas in Dak Lak was a very quiet affair this year. Children's choirs were forbidden from singing "Silent Night" in heavenly harmonies. Fathers and sons, hiding in the forest, or languishing in awful prisons, cried for their families and their families for them. The government's disruption of normal life insured that there was not be enough to eat, let alone something special. But no amount of coercion, and no disbanding of churches can erase the celebration in the hearts of the followers of Jesus. In the quiet of small dark rooms, and the depths of the forest, they continue to retell the wonderful story! Like Simeon, they say, "My eyes have seen your salvation!" And in His own way the Heavenly Father proclaims His peace to those who please Him!

The anti-Christian "gates of hell" of the last 27 years have had an adverse effect. There are a thousand percent more Christians in Dak Lak today than when communism took over. This proves that you can stop them meeting or singing in choirs, but not from believing in their hearts.

Copyright © 2002 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

The U.S. State Department's 2001 Report on International Religious Freedom says that the Vietnam government "continues to restrict those organized activities of religious groups that it declares to be at variance with state laws and policies."

For more articles on Vietnam, see Christianity Today'sWorld Report and Yahoo's full coverage.

Previous Christianity Today articles about religious freedom in Vietnam include:

Vietnam's Hidden Tragedy | American church leaders manipulated as communists cover up abuse of tribal Christians. (Sept. 20, 2002)

Proposed Repatriation of Vietnamese Tribal Christians May Be Flawed | The government continues to persecute believers while giving a guarantee for the safety of returning refugees. (Jan. 29, 2002)

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December (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46