Christians are "enemies of the state" in Laos. The communist government is trying to eliminate or control Christianity, church leaders say.
...Rural churches are the target of "The Program," Lao church leaders told World Evangelical Fellowship. The Program is a government effort to close all Christian meeting places in the countryside while retaining official churches in cities "to give the impression to foreigners that there is religious freedom and a functioning church," they said.
...Tribal Christians are forced to choose between their faith and their homes, a U.S.-based missionary who has worked in the country told Religion Today. If they refuse to sign a document renouncing their faith, village officials force them to leave their homes, their crops, and their jobs, he said.
...Provincial governors, police chiefs, and village leaders work together. Government leaders denounce Christians in newspapers, calling them subversive and a threat to national unity, the church leaders said. Then local chiefs order the Christians to sign the paper or leave the village, and police shut down Christian meeting places.
...Christians who recant are forced to give money to Buddhist priests and some are offered bribes to provide the names of other Christians, they said.
...Sixteen Hmong Christian families are under pressure in Phongsaly Province, according to the Caleb Project, a ministry of AD2000 and Beyond. The tribal Christians living on the border of China have been told to recant and build "spirit houses" as evidence that they have rejected their faith, the ministry said. If they refuse they will be forced out of the province.
...The Program is almost worse than putting Christians in jail, the U.S. missionary said. "They maybe can deal with [jail] better than this. This is taking heads of families with kids and saying, 'You now have no place to live and no place to work.' "
...An estimated 60 Christians are in prison because of their faith, according to news reports. Pa Tood, a 46-year-old pastor, has been in jail for more than a year, according to Christianity Today. He refused to recant, even when the village chief offered to pay his bail. "If I wanted to give up my faith, I wouldn't be here," he said. He is kept in stocks 24-hours a day and sometimes is denied food for extended periods of time.
...The government is cracking down because it fears the societal upheaval many Asian nations have experienced since the 1997 economic crisis, according to news reports. "There is a definite connection," a diplomat said, according to Reuters. "They saw what happened" in Indonesia where economic problems led to the overthrow of the government, and clamped down to quell all suspect groups, he said.
...Christianity is viewed as a foreign religion in Laos and government officials believe churches are tools of Western spies to subvert society. Buddhist priests, seeking to protect their religious dominance, cooperate with the government to ostracize Christians. "There is a real conspiracy there," the missionary said.
...Laos is between Vietnam and Thailand. About 58 percent of its 5.2 million people are Buddhists and 33 percent animists, according missionary organizations. Christians make up about 1.5 percent of the population, with about half being evangelicals.
...The Laotian constitution contains provisions for religious freedom, and Christians once were allowed to practice their faith quietly. "It is crystal clear that the situation has changed radically in the last two years," the church leaders said. "The Program has brought about a big change for the worse for Christians."
