Facts
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Official
Name: Socialist Republic of Vietnam Religion: Buddhist 54.14%, non-Religious 21.80%, Christian 8.16%, Traditional ethnic 8.10%, Cao Dai/Hoa Hoa 5.60%, Chinese 1.10%, Muslim 0.70%, and Baha’i 0.40%. Constitutional guarantees of religious freedom are meaningless, as government policy is to control all religious movements, including Buddhism. |
Religious
persecution: Believers are harassed, beaten and imprisoned
for preaching illegally or illegally organizing evangelistic activities.
Persecution is especially harsh for unregistered and ethnic minority
churches. Seeing the role of Christianity in the demise of communism
elsewhere, the regime has attempted to either control or wipe out believers.
Government efforts have intensified as churches respond to persecution
with growth and outreach. Believers see church registration as compromise,
and failing to register churches is seen as illegal in the eyes of the
government, forcing the church underground. (As quoted from Voice of
the Martyrs) *Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) was named after Ho Chi Minh, meaning
'bringer of light', which was one of the fifty or so aliases used by
Nguyen Tat Thanh (1890-1969), communist guerrilla fighter and first
president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. |
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Site Last Updated: October 10, 2008 9:04 PM