Religious freedom increases in Laos



Laos has made significant progress in ensuring its citizens have religious freedom, according to the Council of America's First Freedom President Dr Robert Seiple, who spoke to government officials on the topic yesterday.

“This is not an easy thing to do, and it is never easy to do it quickly,” he said.

“So there are still things to do and much work lies ahead. But no one should feel badly about the direction it is going and what has been accomplished so far.”

Dr Seiple visits Laos almost every year to observe issues related to religious freedom and said there was a noticeable change during the past few years.

“A few years ago the State Department of the United States wrote its annual report on religious freedom, and the State Department is required by law to list countries that have made significant improvements,” he said.

“There were only two countries mentioned that year: Kazakhstan and Laos . That's a very nice compliment to the people and the government of Laos .”

Dr Seiple said education was a key factor in promoting religious freedom.

“I think training and education would be the most important things, but for everybody - for the people who sit in the churches, certainly for the people who speak in the churches or the mosques or the pagodas, and the government officials who attend,” he said.

Dr Seiple said many global conflicts were fuelled by misunderstanding of religion, but there was growing recognition that while religious passion was sometimes linked to negative acts such as terrorism, it was also linked to many acts of good.

In Laos , religious freedom is guaranteed by prime ministerial decree number 92 and the Lao constitution.

In 2005 there were 4,937 Buddhist temples in Laos with more than 22,000 monks, according to a report from the Lao Front for National Construction. There were also 95 Roman Catholic churches, with almost 42,000 followers, and 221 Lao evangelical churches with members in 17 provinces.

America 's First Freedom Council is a non-profit, non-political and non-denominational organisation based in the US which aims to promote the freedom to believe or not to believe in any religion.

By Somsack Pongkhao
Vientianetimes