Hanoi: authorities crack down on the spread of the 'Church of Jesus'
According to local police, the group is "evil" and is operating in several locations without consent. The government's Religious Affairs Committee has never recognised the sect that appeared five years ago by a member of the Hmong ethnic group originally from Laos.
Hanoi (AsiaNews) - The Vietnamese authorities are trying to crack down on an increasingly popular religious sect in the country's northern provinces: it is the "Church of Jesus", which according to Vietnamese police is operating in many localities without permission.
All religious groups in Vietnam must obtain government approval in order not to be banned, but the Government Committee for Religious Affairs has never recognised the Church of Jesus as a religious organisation.
The group was founded five years ago by a man who calls himself David Her but whose real name is Ho Cha Sung. According to the local police, Her is a member of the Hmong ethnic group originally from Xiangkhoang province in Laos but currently living in California.
Her identifies himself as a messenger of Jesus, who he says will return to protect the Hmong people. He also claims that God gave the land to the Hmong people but they were not united so their territory was divided among other ethnic groups. The faithful are urged to return to Laos to create a state.
The religion is concentrated in the northern provinces of Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Son La, Lao Cai, Yen Bai and Thanh Hoa. The Ministry of Public Security has called it an 'evil religion', expressing concern over its rapid growth among the Hmong. Most of the community converted to Christianity between the 20th and 21st century.
According to the local police in Hai Phong, about 100 Hmong people live in the city. Not all of them are said to be followers of the Church of Jesus, but even they have been warned not to join the group.
In April, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (Uscirf) had submitted a proposal to put Vietnam back on the list of countries of special concern for failure to respect religious freedom, claiming that the government continues to persecute independent religious communities.
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