By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
HANOI (Worthy News) – Christians on Wednesday urged prayers for the “swift and safe release” of three church members in northeastern Vietnam, including a Catholic priest, after security forces reportedly detained them during a home worship service.
“While a Catholic priest was meeting with approximately 20 worshippers in a private residence on August 11, local police abruptly cut off the power supply of the building and proceeded to raid the gathering,” said advocacy group Voice Of the Martyrs Canada (VOMC) in a statement to Worthy News.
Authorities ordered “an immediate cessation of the service” before arresting three individuals: the homeowner, the Catholic community leader, and another church member. Their names were withheld for security reasons, Christians said.
The raid took place around 8:30 p.m. local time in Binh Khang, a village in Vietnam’s northeastern Thái Nguyên Province. Video footage posted on social media showed police disrupting the meeting, with one official apparently questioning attendees about their hometowns.
RESTRICTIVE RULES
In Communist-run Vietnam, permits for Christian worship and other religious gatherings are often denied unless applicants are from the immediate area, according to several sources. “However, in this case, it is believed that all those present at the worship gathering were local parishioners,” VOMC added.
The group appealed for prayers for the detainees and for “governmental opposition faced by our Christian brothers and sisters in Vietnam” to ease. It also urged prayers that those “currently opposed to the Gospel message” would turn to the Christian faith.
Christian charity Open Doors said the case reflects wider pressure. “Local authorities crack down on Christian meetings, evangelism, or Bible teaching. They may break up church services and detain, threaten, fine, and sometimes imprison church leaders, ordering them not to speak about Jesus anymore,” the group explained.
Authorities are “particularly suspicious of Christians from minority ethnic groups such as the Hmong,” Open Doors noted. “Despite this, Hmong Bible teachers bravely travel miles by motorbike into remote areas to train believers in secret Bible schools.”
Vietnam ranks 44th on the Open Doors World Watch List of 50 nations where Christians face the most persecution. More than 7 percent of the country’s 105 million people identify as Christians, according to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, which says most Vietnamese are “culturally Buddhist.”
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