Bush's church visit rewards Vietnam - When US President George W Bush attended a church in Vietnam on Sunday, his visit was a political statement as well as an act of faith. Just days before he arrived for the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit, the US took Vietnam off a list of nations it believes severely violate religious freedom. In announcing the decision, the US state department said there had been 'significant improvements toward advancing religious freedom' in Vietnam in recent years. Mr Bush's trip to Hanoi's Cua Bac church was designed to highlight those improvements, and make sure the trend continues. 'A whole society is a society that welcomes basic freedom - and there is no more basic freedom than the freedom to worship as you see fit,' he told reporters after the service. 'My hope is that people all across the world will be able to express religious freedom.'