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So the 12 of us found ourselves in a bus with bad shocks and whistling windows, headed for Pleiku, singing like fools. As we were discovering, there was something to sing about: The religious situation in Vietnam is indeed new.

Five years earlier to the month, in the very province we were driving through (Dac Lak), police summoned N. (name withheld by Human Rights Watch investigators). He was badgered with questions: Who were the members of his church? Why did he teach the Bible if he was not a pastor?

At one point, the interrogator, Mr. H., cursed N. and said he was stupid: "So you believe in God? Have you ever seen him? What has God given you? Has he given you money? Have you borrowed money from the bank? God hasn't given you anything at all, but the state lets you borrow money, the state builds roads, the state gives you electricity!"

Such harassment was common in 2001. But in some places—such as Gia Lai, the district we were heading toward—things were brutal. On March 9, 2001, hundreds of soldiers and riot police surrounded and then entered the village of Plei Lao. They wore white helmets and protective padding; they carried shields, batons, electric truncheons, tear gas, and guns, arriving in jeeps and army trucks. The government had decided to do something about a prayer meeting of more than 500 Christians from the area.

A villager who tried to warn the Christians was handcuffed and thrown into an army truck. His sister, along with other villagers, pleaded for his release, but "the police beat the sister until blood came out of her MOUth," an eyewitness told hrw. "They hit her with an electric baton and with their fists."

When villagers tried to fight back, the police fired tear gas into the crowd and started beating people. "Many people ran," said the eyewitness. "Then the police lowered their guns and fired at the people running away."

The police ordered some villagers to destroy the church with axes and burn it down. "Afterwards," the eyewitness concluded, "the police put fresh earth over the ashes and smoothed it so outsiders could not tell there had ever been a church there."

"The church here is enjoying very, very good conditions," the pastor said. "We have about 120,000 Christians, 310 chapters [congregations], and about 226 full-fledged pastors. We are different nationalities, but we are living as brothers in unity and harmony."

One of four Dac Lak pastors was speaking about the church in his district. We sat in one pastor's house, in a long room that had been converted for church use, on folding chairs around folding tables. A neon church sign glared at us from one wall. It was almost five years to the day since N. had been summoned by police in the same district.

The pastor said they hoped to build four churches in the coming months. Bob Roberts, pastor of Northwood Church in Keller, Texas, who had organized the pastoral delegation for IGE, was intrigued. Roberts asked about the size of the pastor's church. The pastor replied that his was a small one, with only 500 followers.

Roberts pointed to another pastor and asked the translator, "How many go to this man's church?"

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May 2007, Vol. 51, No. 5