Church opens its doors to Hmong
In a sign of increasing independence from the
communist authorities in Hanoi, the Protestant church in
northern Vietnam has begun admitting parishes of the
frequently persecuted Hmong ethnic minority. A recent
Western visitor to Hanoi says church officials told him
that 227 Hmong parishes in northern Vietnam had been
admitted into the Evangelical Church of Vietnam by
mid-October and that the applications of another 100
were pending.
Ethnic Vietnamese and Hmong church
leaders have long said that government officials
opposed this integration of churches. Analysts believe
the communist government is anxious at the rate of
growth of the Hmong church in the past 15 years.
Hmong converts to Christianity, particularly in the
northern provinces of Lao Cai and Lai Chau, have
complained since the late 1980s that they are harassed,
imprisoned and pressed to abandon their religious faith
by provincial officials. Hmong church leaders hope their
closer ties with the ethnic Vietnamese church in Hanoi
will give them some protection against persecution, the
visitor reports.
The Far Eastern Economic Review - October 31, 2002.
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