Members of the U.S. House of representatives' powerful International Relations Committee have vowed to bring up the issue in hearings that could start as early as next month. The action against Father Lyweeks after the reported strip-search of a prominent Buddhistdissident and the government's crushing of riots in the predominantly Christian central highlandslooks to some like Hanoi is thumbing its nose at American human rights concerns. It basically shows complete contemptfor human rights and for the United States. If the religion issue is stirring up trouble in Washington, it's nothing compared with what's going on at home. By most accounts, Vietnam is in the midst of a multi-faith religious revival.
Buddhist festivals are common nationwide.
And Catholics take their own annual pilgrimage to a site here the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared. Like China, Vietnam tolerates religious devotion in churches that are under effective Communist Party administration, but the government appears anxious about the rise of renegade sects. Yet Hanoi insists that every citizen has the right to religion, pointing to its millions of worshipers. Phan Thi Lan Huong is one of them. She is one of up to 20,000 who flock each day to the Chua Huong Pagodas southwest of Hanoi during the pilgrimage season.