From rxpgnews.com
Bush for expansion of religious freedom worldwide
By DPA,
Nov 19, 2006 - 7:58:52 PM
Hanoi, Nov 19 (DPA) US President George W. Bush called for greater religious freedom worldwide after attending a church service Sunday in communist Vietnam, which Washington until this week condemned as one of the world's worst religious persecutors.
'A whole society is a society which welcomes basic freedoms, and there is no more basic freedom than the freedom to worship as you see fit,' Bush said as he left Cua Bac Cathedral, a Catholic church where an inter-faith service was held in Bush's honour.
The US leader said he attended the service with his wife, Laura, to express their personal faith and to urge more societies 'to feel comfortable with and confident in' allowing greater religious diversity.
'My hope is that people all across the world will be able to express religion freedom,' Bush said.
The US State Department Monday removed Vietnam from its list of countries 'of particular concern' on religious persecution, where it had spent two years alongside Iran, China, Saudi Arabia and North Korea.
The communist country once repressed the country's 6 million Catholics and also 30 million Buddhists, but in recent years has been more tolerant of established religions.
Still, the Vietnamese government retains control over churches, requiring them to register, and overseeing seminaries and the appointment of church leaders.
Disputes over the appointment of bishops has kept Hanoi from establishing diplomatic relations with the Vatican.
John Hanford, the US ambassador At Large for International Religious Freedom, said this week that Vietnam had made significant improvements in allowing independent Protestant churches to become legal.
'Though important work remains to be done, Vietnam can no longer be identified as a severe violator of religious freedom' under US law, Hanford said.
Smaller, independent religions, however, decried Washington's move to take Vietnam off the list of worst religious persecutors.
Critics argue that Vietnam's estimated 600,000 evangelical Protestants, and smaller, unsanctioned sects like the Hua Hoa Buddhists and the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam continue to face state persecution.
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