Baptist delegation calls for religious liberty in Vietnam

Posted: 6/09/06

Baptist delegation calls
for religious liberty in Vietnam

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

Texas Baptists recently joined a Baptist World Alliance delegation to discuss religious freedom issues with the Vietnamese government.

Though conditions for religious groups have improved in recent years in Vietnam, some Christians continue reporting cases of persecution. Religious groups must be sanctioned by the Vietnamese government.

Hue Nguyen, president of the National Vietnamese Baptist Fellowship and pastor of Vietnamese Faith Baptist Church in Dallas, described the situation for Christians in Vietnam as like “a bird in a cage.”

In meetings with Vietnamese leaders, the Baptist delegation called for religious freedom—not simply recognition of the five Baptist groups in the Asian country.

“We recognize in the recent laws on religious liberty that there is greater respect for Protestant groups like Baptists,” said BWA President David Coffey. “What we asked for was that they would go beyond respect to granting freedom of worship without any restrictions. The delegation particularly pressed for a normalization of religious freedom which would include the right to open church buildings, Bible schools and compassionate ministries.”

Other members of the delegation included John Nguyen, pastor of Vietnamese Baptist Church in Garland; Daniel Tran, pastor of Vietnamese Baptist Church in Arlington; Charles Wade, Baptist General Convention of Texas executive director; Alan Stanford, BWA North American Baptist Fellowship regional secretary; and Patty Lane, BGCT intercultural ministries director.

The Baptist delegation’s journey to Vietnam was in response to a 2004 request from the National Vietnamese Baptist Fellowship in the United States to the BWA’s North American Baptist Fellowship. Former President Jimmy Carter also asked the Vietnamese government to welcome a Baptist delegation.

The trip included a BWA-sponsored dinner that gathered more than 500 Baptist leaders, the largest public gathering of Vietnamese Baptists since 1975. Baptist World Aid, the humanitarian arm of the BWA, also presented checks to Vietnamese Baptists to build homes for the poor.