about
Laos
Commmunist government has been in control since 1975. The church situation is similar to that in Vietnam, with the difference that there are far fewer Christians – little over 100,000; 2 per cent of the population. The Lao People’s Democratic Republic is an authoritarian, Communist one-party state ruled by the Lao’s People’s Revolutionary Party. The biggest challenges to Christians in Laos are social pressures against converts who renounce evil spirit worship. But still there are many unregistered activities and the Church seems to be growing despite persecution. Christian leaders in the south say they have been able to undertake many church activities with little or no government interference, and training of leaders has increased. The government has also been dealing with cases of persecution brought against local officials. However, the main group of Christians in the north continued to face difficulties and many continue to be arrested and put under pressure to renounce their faith. Bible imports were cancelled in August 2005 as the regime stepped up monitoring the provinces that were used to transport the materials.