Vietnamese bishops have told high ranking communist officials, they are critical of a new religion law that is to take effect next year while also finding fault with the government’s belligerence toward religions. In a formal statement, the bishops criticized the Law on Belief and Religion because it “continues to strengthen asking-and-granting mechanism.” The bishops’ statement said the law replaces words “asking permission” and “giving permission” with “registering, informing, proposing,” which still request “religions to inform government authorities about their activities that authorities may or may not approve.”
“This mechanism shows that religious freedom is really not considered a human right but a grace that needs permission (from the government),” said the statement signed by Archbishop Joseph Nguyen Chi Linh, head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Vietnam and Bishop Peter Nguyen Van Kham, its secretary general. “It is the mechanism itself to legalize the government’s intervention in religions’ internal issues and its tight control over religious activities,” they said. The Catholic Church serves 7 million Catholics in Vietnam. The Vietnamese government currently recognizes 39 religious organizations from 13 religions, with 24 million followers.
