A Can of Worms

So, I went out to dinner last night with some Vietnamese friends, and we somehow got started on a pretty interesting topic. They've seen all the controversy in the states about Reverend Wright but they didn't really have the context to understand what the controversy is about. From their point of view the issue was framed differently. Americans have freedom of religion. And Americans have a seperation of church and state. So, What's the big deal? Why do Americans care about what somebody's pastor said or says? Imagine trying to explain that to someone who speaks less than perfect english, when I only know about 25 words in Vietnamese, and 10 of those are numbers.

So, It got me thinking. In one of my first days here I took a trip with those same people to a few Buddhist temples on the outskirts of Hanoi. And it struck me that Vietnam is, technically, a communist country. Yet, the temples seemed to be alive and well, I'd even say thriving. I mean communism and religion don't normally go hand in hand, right? Didn't I hear something once about The opiate of the masses?

Their Constitution says

"citizens enjoy freedom of worship, and may practice or not practice a religion"

but that

"no one may misuse religions to violate state laws or policies."

So, I guess that kinda covers all the bases there. Basically, worship whoever, whatever, however you want to, but don't start setting yourself on fire in the streets. The word "misuse" I think is particularly interesting.

Then this morning I came across this.

And here is a link to something which is NOT the State Departments Report on Human Rights in any country.

So, maybe we can use this stuff to start a discussion. Why do Americans care what somebody's pastor says or said? Could it (or should it) be spun into a freedom of religion issue? Does the State Department have a "Country Report on Human Rights Practices- U.S.A." And if there were such a report, what kind of grade would we give ourselves? Here are some things which could have been said about America, but were actually said about Vietnam.

Police sometimes abused suspects during arrest, detention, and interrogation. Prison conditions were often severe. Individuals were arbitrarily detained for political activities and were denied the right to fair and expeditious trials.

The government exercised oversight through the Ministry of Culture and Information, reorganized during the year to become the Ministry of Information and Communication, and supplemented its control through pervasive party guidance and national security legislation sufficiently broad to ensure effective self-censorship by the domestic media.

By law detainees are permitted access to lawyers from the time of their detention, but the system often functioned in a way that denied detainees free and open access to legal counsel.

Interestingly enough, I couldn't find anything in the report about warrantless wiretapping ocurring anywhere in Vietnam.