Help us encourage the government of Vietnam to allow the monks and nuns of Bat Nha monastery to find sanctuary and practice their religion of love and compassion in peace. Urge the Vietnamese government to stop religious persecution throughout the country.
We the the undersigned call your attention to a critical human rights issue in Vietnam. Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Thich Nhat Hanh's Vietnam-based Bat Nha monastery is under severe economic and governmental pressure to abandon their monastic vows and return to their home villages. We believe this action is the result of suggestions made by Thich Nhat Hanh to President Nguyen Minh Triet that Vietnam abolish governmental control of religion, and by pressure from the Chinese government after Thich Nhat Hanh said in an Italian interview that he believed His Holiness the Dalai Lama should be allowed to participate in an international Buddhist gathering in Hanoi be allowed return to Tibet to meet his followers.
Immediately after these events the Vietnamese government began to pressure Thich Nhat Hanh%u2019s followers to leave the monastery, citing vague and confusing reasons of their own for these demands. This came to a head in September 2009 when the monks and nuns were violently brutalized and evicted from their monastery, which was destroyed. Currently 374 monastics are taking sanctuary in a monastery designed to house five. They have been surrounded once again by police and cut off from comfort, both physical and psychological. Those who have attempted to offer support have been turned away. Reports of illness arising from the critical sanitary conditions of such overcrowding have come in. Their situation is dire and deteriorating rapidly.
These monastics who practice Thich Nhat Hanh%u2019s teachings are not inciting insurrection or asking for a change in government. Their aim is solely to spread greater world, human and environmental peace through compassion for all living things and promotion of understanding between all faiths and nations.
Please stop this violence and help save the people Bat Nha Monastery now by reaching out to the Vietnamese government in the spirit of encouragement. As they attempt to normalize relations with the UN and the world community, this could be a golden opportunity for them. Show your support for them and offer assistance and encouragement to them so that they may take peaceful, non violent action to end this conflict and allow the people of Bat Nha to find sanctuary and to practice their religion of compassion and tolerance.
Please act on behalf of America%u2019s fundamental belief in religious freedom and global human rights. Stop this violence and help save the men and women Bat Nha Monastery now. This action cannot wait. They need our help and they need it immediately. Please show them the principles of compassion and strength of character that founded our nation have not perished.
We thank you sincerely for your tireless efforts to promote human rights everywhere.
