RENOUNCING
CHRISTIANITY

Topics: Hardship; Oppression; Persecution; Suffering

Reference: 2 Corinthians 6:3–10

If you become an evangelical Christian in Laos, the communist neighbor of Vietnam and Cambodia, you likely will be “asked” to fill out and sign a form, which says, in part:

I, [name], who live in [location], believe in a foreign religion, which the imperialists have used for their own benefit to divide the united front and to build power for themselves against the local authorities. Now I and my family clearly see the intentions of the enemy and regret the deeds which we have committed. We have clearly seen the goodness of the Party and the Government. Therefore, I and my family voluntarily and unequivocally resign from believing in this foreign religion.

If you sign the form, you promise not to participate in Christianity under punishment of law. If you don’t sign, you can expect humiliation, harassment, and persecution, including probable imprisonment and torture.

The document’s widespread use by Laotian officials has been authenticated by the World Evangelical Fellowship’s Religious Liberty Commission and other sources. Hundreds of rural Christians reportedly have been forced to sign the form in public, then compelled to participate in animistic sacrifices.

—“Drive to Stamp Out Christianity in Laos Having Opposite Effect,” Baptist Press (October 9, 2000)