Pro-Democracy Advocate Released from Prison

Her new Christian faith deepens; authorities allow evangelist Luis Palau to address pastors.

HO CHI MINH CITY, March 30 (CDN) — A Protestant prisoner of conscience who had called for democratic freedoms in Vietnam was released earlier this month after serving a three-year sentence for “propagandizing to destroy the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.”

Attorney Le Thi Cong Nhan’s sentence had been reduced by one year after an international outcry over her sentencing. She was released on March 6. Remaining in prison for another year is her colleague, Christian lawyer Nguyen Van Dai.

The 31-year-old Cong Nhan had also supported a labor union that sought to be independent. Now serving an additional three-year house arrest sentence, Cong Nhan said in a surprisingly frank interview with Voice of America’s Vietnamese language broadcast on March 9 that she has no intention of giving up her struggle for a just and free Vietnam and accepts that there may be a further price to pay.

Cong Nhan, arrested in March 2007, received a Vietnamese Bible from a visiting delegation of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom – with official permission from Vietnam’s minister of Public Security – early in her incarceration, but she had to struggle constantly to retain it. Twice she went on a hunger strike when authorities took the Bible away from her.

She had become a Christian shortly before her arrest, and she told Voice of America that while in prison she was able to read the entire Bible.

“In prison the Lord became my closest friend, my teacher, and the one who carried my burdens with me,” she said. “When I was released from prison, I received many words of praise and of love and respect – I became a bit worried about this, as I do not consider myself worthy of such. I believe I must live an even better and more worthy life.”

Her prison experience has confirmed her calling and faith, she said.

“As a direct result of my prison experience, I am more convinced than ever that the path that I have chosen is the right one,” Cong Nhan said. “Before prison I was just like a thin arrow, but now I have become a strong fort.”

Luis Palau Allowed to Speak

While Christians in several parts of Vietnam are still subject to abuse from local officials, the country’s national authorities have continued to allow high-profile Christian events. On March 17, renowned U.S. evangelist Luis Palau was allowed to address more than 400 pastors in a day-long event at the New World Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City.

Palau, who had arrived in Hanoi with his entourage on March 13, had addressed nearly 200 Hanoi area pastors at an evening event at the Hanoi Hilton on March 14. The two events were streamed live on http://www.hoithanh.com, a popular website that reports on Protestant news in Vietnam. Hundreds of Vietnamese in Vietnam and abroad were estimated to have watched the presentations.

The events were deemed significant, if not historic, by Vietnam’s Christian leaders. Very rarely is a prominent foreign Protestant leader allowed to address Vietnamese leaders, especially one from the United States.

The events were significant also in that they brought together leaders from virtually all segments of Vietnam’s fractured and sometimes conflicted Protestant groups, Christian leaders said. The gatherings included leaders of open churches and house churches, registered and unregistered churches, and urban and even ethnic minority groups from Vietnam’s remote mountainous regions.

Two representatives of a Mennonite church headed by activist pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, however, were turned away by police. 

Palau and Mike McIntosh, pastor of San Diego mega-church Horizon Christian Fellowship, strongly challenged the Vietnamese church leaders to strive for unity. The assembled pastors were challenged to put aside past conflicts and suspicions for the sake of the Kingdom of God in Vietnam, with Palau saying that unity was a requirement for God’s blessing on their churches and nation.

Some Vietnamese leaders responded by expressing remorse for their divisions and committed to start working toward reconciliation.

Organizers and participants said they hope such short events will lead to larger gains. Though the Luis Palau Association had originally planned for a two-day event for 2,000 pastors, most agreed this was an unprecedented first step toward a bigger goal. With an invitation from all segments of the Protestant community in Vietnam in hand, the Luis Palau Association is prepared to help organize evangelistic festivals in Vietnam in 2011, the centenary of Protestantism in Vietnam.

“There is still a long way to go, but we are seeing miracles piling up,” said one senior Vietnamese leader. “It could happen!”

One prominent overseas Vietnamese leader wondered if Palau’s visit to Vietnam could be compared to Billy Graham’s visit to Moscow during the Soviet Communist era.

Also sharing testimonies during the March 17 event were Rick Colsen, a top Intel executive, and John Dalton, Secretary of the Navy under President Clinton.

Report from Compass Direct News 

PERSECUTION IN RUSSIA FOR BAPTISTS

The nation of Russia appears to be heading back towards its former Soviet days following its invasion of Georgia and its deteriorating relationship with the west in recent times.

Now there appears to be an orchestrated campaign to apply pressure to Baptist Churches in Russia that have opted out of the government recognised Baptist Union and belong to their own fellowship, the Baptist Council of Churches. The churches have been harassed by state officials, including a state run television propaganda campaign.

PERSECUTION IN KAZAKHSTAN

Baptist churches in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan are being persecuted by the government for refusing to register in that country’s system of closely monitoring Christian organisations.

Believers in Kazakhstan see the state’s attempts at forcing them to register are a violation of their religious freedom as clearly outlined in the constitution of Kazakhstan. Many believers have been heavily fined as a consequence of their refusal to register.

Baptists have not been the only group targeted by the government. Jehovah’s Witnesses have also been targeted and raided by government officials.

There is now a draft religion law in Kazakhstan that would further erode religious freedom in the country. The law would include further restrictive registration requirements, as well as reduce the number of religious groups allowed to operate in the country.

UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT COLLAPSES

After the 2004 Orange Revolution hope returned to the then recently independent Ukraine, following the corrupt rule of the pro-Moscow government of Viktor Yanukovych. Now, the coalition of President Viktor Yushchenko (Our Ukraine bloc) and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko (Tymoshenko bloc) has fallen apart, with Tymoshenko siding with the former Ukrainian ruler Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions party.

Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine party has withdrawn from the ruling coalition and now has 30 days to form a new coalition government or call a snap election. The coalition government was officially declared dissolved by the parliament speaker last Tuesday.

The Ukraine and the world now wait to see what will come of the former Soviet Republic and whether the country will slide once again towards anarchy and/or towards Russian influence.

View scenes from the Orange Revolution:

RUSSIA BECOMING A ROGUE STATE?

It would seem that Russia is continuing its military action in Georgia despite agreeing to a ceasefire and the presence of American military personal in Georgia. They seemed to halt for a moment when the Americans arrived, but have since continued their push into the heart of the country and onward towards the capital of Georgia, Tbilisi. It would seem you can’t trust the Russians at their word, which would make them very close to the Soviet era approach to world diplomacy.

Is the Russian Federation becoming a rogue state? That is the question facing the West. I would personally view the Russian Federation as being very close to being a rogue state, if not already a rogue state. Russia is acting more and more like a tyrant toward the former Soviet republics that have gained independence.

Not satisfied with acting the bully toward the former Soviet republics, Russia is now turning its thug-like activities to countries that were formerly part of the Eastern Bloc, with Poland being a particular target.

Russian general, Anatoly Nogovitsyn has suggested that Poland is now open to a strike (which could mean a pre-emptive nuclear attack) for entertaining the possibility of joining NATO and deploying an American anti-missile system on its soil.

It would seem that the Cold War may be returning in a new manifestation – perhaps Cold War II.

RUSSIA LOOKING MORE SOVIET EACH DAY

Has anyone else noticed how Russia is looking more ‘Soviet’ era with each passing day? It was expected, certainly by me, that when Putin left office that the new guy would be both a clone of the former KGB leader and more than likely a puppet.

With the war that has broken out with Georgia over the breakaway region of Georgia known as South Ossetia, Russia is looking even more like the Soviet era menace that it once was.

Sure, a good number of South Ossetia’s population is Russian, but how quickly has Russia intervened in an ‘internal’ situation of Georgia’s – something which Russia and its friends like China, are quick to use as an argument to not intervene in global troubles. Yet when it is something that Russia feels strongly about, in they go as strongly as they can – hypocrisy on a global scale!

Russia ought to be condemned for its action against Georgia and for encouraging the breakaway region which it alone has recognised as an independent region.

This action by Russia is typical of its usual hardline approach. Think of what it did to Chechnya. It also brings a reminder of the Soviet interventions in Eastern Europe whenever they felt like doing so in the 20^th century.

Russia, looking more Soviet each day.