Vietnam Christians face severe persecution

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Hmong Christians in the Nghe An province of Vietnam are suffering intense persecution as officials work to create “Christian-free zones,” Morning Star News (MSN) reports. Christians make up 8.5% of the population in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, where many identify with animism and with ethnic Vietnamese Folk religion.

Vietnamese Christians have long struggled with persecution, especially in the central and northern parts of the country: Vietnam ranks 19th on the US Open Doors Watch List 2022 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

That persecution is intensifying in Nghe An province, where members of the not-yet-legally recognized Vietnam Good News Mission Church and the officially recognized Evangelical Church of Vietnam-North are especially affected.

Now, church leaders have reported to Morning Star News that local officials are “vying with each other to create ‘Christian-free zones’ and operate with ‘no conscience or humanity as if they were in a different country than the one whose religious freedom measures they are violating.”

According to Morning Star News, officials have applied great pressure on animist citizens to drive local Christians out of their homes, families, and communities. “Some Christians have been forcibly separated from spouse and children, home and fields, sometimes even their wedding rings if they persist in their faith. Then officials wash their hands and say these outrages are purely family matters,” MSN said.

The only way for Christians to remain in their communities is for them to give up Christianity and return to animism. However, MSN said: “Most steadfastly refuse to give up their new-found faith, which they testify has freed them from demonic oppression.”

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