Bahá'í
Academics Resource Library
HRP: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
IRF: Annual Reports to Congress on International Religious Freedom
FREEDOM OF RELIGION
Both the Constitution and government decrees provide for freedom of worship;
however, the Government continued to restrict significantly those organized
activities of religious groups that it declared to be at variance with
state laws and policies. The Government generally allowed persons to practice
individual worship in the religion of their choice, and participation in
religious activities throughout the country continued to grow significantly.
However, government restrictions on the hierarchies and clergy of most
religious groups remained in place, and religious groups faced difficulties
in training and ordaining clergy, publishing religious materials, and conducting
educational and humanitarian activities. The Government requires religious
groups to register and uses this process to control and monitor church
organizations....
In recent years, the conditions faced by Baha'is have improved in some
localities where Baha'is have been able to practice their faith quietly
with local permission. However, a Baha'i community in Danang was unable
to obtain approval of its recent application for registration of official
religious activities.
BAHA'I COMMUNITY
There are estimated to be between from several hundred to 2,000 Baha'i
believers, largely concentrated in the south; prior to 1975, there were
an estimated 130,000 believers, according to Baha'i officials.