Posted on 06/03/2014 7:01:30 PM PDT by markomalley
Savannakhet - Five security officers in the village of Loynam, in Nong district in the province of Savannakhet, arrested a Christian man named Sort, they tied him to a pole and then they laughed and kept asking him to give up his Christian faith. The man, who did not give in, is still in prison in Nong. As Fides learns, a year ago, Sort, 40 years old, converted to Christianity, becoming the first Christian in the district of Nong, consisting of about 20 villages.
Fearing the spread of Christianity "like a virus", on May 15 the police went to Sort’s house and ordered him to abandon his faith, threatening to throw him out and confiscate all his property. The man replied: "I chose the Christian faith and I have not broken any law". The agents, after numerous attempts to persuade him to abandon his faith, arrested him on May 29, an act which was totally illegal.In a note sent to Fides, the NGO "Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom" urges the Lao government to release Sort immediately, to punish the abuse carried out by the police and to respect the people's right to religious freedom, guaranteed by the Constitution of Laos.
In previous days, in the same province of Savannakhet, often the scene of violations and abuses against Christians, three students from Laos, aged 14 and 15 were not allowed to take their end of school exams, because of their Christian faith. Christians in the area have appealed to the school authorities of the district, who have opened an investigation. As reported to Fides by HRWLRF, on May 25, in the village of Donpalai, always in the province of Savannakhet, the police raided a prayer center and confiscated 53 Bibles, without any official reason.
My family lived in Savannakhet,Laos (the town) from 1964 to about 1973. It was the summer residence for the king of Laos at the time. It had a big catholic population due to Laos being a part of the French Indochina empire. It had a diverse population of Lao, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian a few left over French and a very few of us Americans. It was a laid back lazy village along the Mekong River. Interesting times for a teenage boy.
perhaps we should send over John Kerry
From Wikipedia: the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, and Thailand to the west. Its population was estimated to be around 6.5 million in 2012.
**A third of the population of Laos live below the international poverty line which means living on less than US$1.25 per day.
**Laos is a low income economy with it having one of the lowest annual incomes in the world.
**In 2013, Laos ranked the 138th place (tied with Cambodia) on the Human Development Index (HDI), indicating that Laos currently only has lower medium to low development.
**According to the Global Hunger Index, Laos currently ranks as the 25th hungriest nation in the world out of the list of the 56 nations with the worst hunger situation(s) in the world.
**Laos has had a poor human rights record most particularly dealing with the nation's acts of genocide being committed towards its Hmong population.
WHAT does Laos have for you? It's poor and corrupt and has nothing going for it but its ranking as an A-NUMBER ONE, first class, blue ribbon PIT HOLE.
“WHAT does Laos have for you? It’s poor and corrupt and has nothing going for it but its ranking as an A-NUMBER ONE, first class, blue ribbon PIT HOLE.”
Full of people Christ died for. He cares and Christians care.
The Religion Forum has religious articles. It’s how it works.
Another persecution of Catholics is coming.
were there any memorable restaurants? what a fusion of cooking styles..
A sure sign that the Christian faith is growing in the global south nations and spreading praise God!
Keywords added — persecution is such an important topic! He & others are in my prayers.
? (Did you mean this?)
Maybe because
// Laos has had a poor human rights record most particularly dealing with the nation’s acts of genocide being committed towards its Hmong population. //
as well as the active persecution of believers across the world.
Did you how how few Christians were being discussed? I didn't. I pictured masses of Christians being persecuted. Besides, NOTHING makes for a determined growth than persecution.
Also I am not really terribly trustworthy of the media from Laos, considering their record already.
My point: CONTEXT and some NUMBERS would be instructive just to get some perspective.
“My point: CONTEXT and some NUMBERS would be instructive just to get some perspective.”
We can agree on that.
Good.
My heart goes out to ALL who are persecuted for their faith.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.