U.S. drops Vietnam from religious intolerance list

[Judi Lynn]

U.S. drops Vietnam from religious intolerance list
By Arshad Mohammed
Mon Nov 13, 7:46 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Monday dropped Vietnam from its list of nations that severely violate religious freedom ahead of a visit by President George W. Bush, citing improvement in its tolerance for religious expression.

The State Department also said it added Uzbekistan to the list and blamed its harsh treatment of observant Muslims, many of whom are harassed, detained and accused of extremism, as well as its repression and abuse of Christians.

The State Department said the decision to remove Vietnam was not tied to Bush's visit to Hanoi for a regional summit this week nor to Vietnam's decision to deport a U.S. citizen convicted of plotting against the communist-run government.

"Vietnam has made significant improvements toward advancing religious freedom," John Hanford, the U.S. ambassador at large for religious freedom, told reporters, saying it had made strides since first being placed on the list in 2004.
(snip/...)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061114/pl_nm/vietnam_usa_r...

[AIJ Alom]

1. In other words, how about you open your markets a little more to

American goods. Regardless, I am glad that Vietnam has become a little more tolerant. Now if only we could say the same thing about our friends, the Saudis. You'd think the president would stop holding their hands or something in protest, but oh well.

[saigon68]

6. lets kiss the king

[lvx35]

2. Uzbekistan...

Sounds BAD there...Just reading religioustolerance.org on Uzbekistan:

The persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses, along with all other religious groups, continues in Uzbekistan and is compounded by the authorities lack of knowledge of faiths. For example, a deputy public prosecutor has told a Jehovah's Witness that reading their literature causes people either to become a 'Wahhabi' (a term widely and loosely used in Central Asia for Islamic extremists), or to become a terrorist. The same prosecutor also
claimed that Jehovah's Witnesses hypnotize people."

Accusing Jehovah's witnesses of pushing fundamentalist Islam...hmm...

[Mythsaje]

3. In all fairness

a lot of Americans don't like Jehovah's Witnesses either.

But we don't accuse them of fostering Islamic terrorism.

They're not THAT annoying, are they?

[Ian David]

5. A Jehova's Witness turned me into a newt!

I got better.

[Crayson]

4. Religious Intolerance List? Whose on top? The US?