Members of Vietnam's Buddhist and Christian communities testified before the Commission of the oppressive policies carried out by the government against religious followers. One of those testifying before the Commission was the Rev. Paul Ai, former president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Vietnam. I have brought to you this morning a small sample of testimonies from eight different pastors in Vietnam. Please do whatever you can to help these pastors and their families. During his testimony, Ai read a list of religious rights that he and his fellow pastors want the Vietnamese government to recognize and allow.
Religious groups face increasing pressure to submit to government control.
This act would have given the government the ability to influence which leaders were chosen to direct ECVN affairs, reports Compass Direct. Also testifying before the Commission was the Rev. John Tran Cong Nghi of the VietCatholic Network. During a visit in the summer of 2000, Nghi says he witnessed constant interruption of Catholic church services by local communists. Other organizations are banned by the government and forced to function underground. The oppressive and anti-religion policies have been carried out ruthlessly and persistently by the Vietnamese communist government for almost 50 years.