Interview with Bishop John Hepworth on Human Rights Interview with Bishop John Hepworth on Human Rights by TIVI Weekly 1. Bishop Hepworth, some people think it inappropriate for religions to be involved in politics such as standing up against dictatorial and repressive regimes.
Religion has an absolute obligation to stand up to any repressive regime.
Religion sets the rules by which people live and it sets the reason why people are here, and if religion believes that people are meant to be free and to live in communities that are just and fair and that they are able to worship God and love each other without the State interfering, then religion must always oppose governments that stop religion operating and stop people being free. You certainly have a very busy schedule. This struggle for human rights in Vietnam and for freedom, political and religious freedom, will not be achieved in any one country. It will be only achieved if people from many countries and their opinion makers are able to be mobilized, and my activities now in traveling considerably for this purpose is to try and become a good part of a global network that brings pressure to bear on the government of Vietnam and also gives hope to the Vietnamese people abroad that they can be developed into a single global force to provide change in Vietnam. It was the Western notion of freedom of the press that lead to the communist victory in Vietnam in 1975 with, as a result, the death of millions of Vietnamese people in concentration camps or at sea.