More than two dozen Christian converts in a village in southern Laos could be expelled for their faith if government officials fail to keep local authorities from violating their constitutional rights it was reported in March.
The Christians from eight families in Natahall village, in Savannakhet Province’s Phin District, were told to recant their faith at the end of 2013. Local officials sent an eviction order to five Christian families. The village chief publicly declared that the Christian families who had converted to Christianity would be held responsible for any deaths villagers might suffer as a result of spirits angered by violation of traditional beliefs and customs. Animism and ancestor worship are prevalent across Laos.
The chief offered to relocate the Christian families in the same province. Not only did the Christians refuse to renounce their faith, but three more families in the village put their trust in Christ, the source said. The village chief and local police summoned the eight Christian families for a four-hour meeting and once again ordered them to abandon their faith.
