Experience in implementing the work of protecting the Party's ideological foundation and fighting against erroneous and hostile viewpoints shows that: taking advantage of and promoting the role of the entire political system and the people is a great and solid source of strength. In particular, discovering, researching and promoting the role of core forces and special forces contributes to further improving the effectiveness of this work. Religion is a sensitive, complex and multi-dimensional field, often exploited by hostile forces as a "trick" to sabotage. To do well in religious work as well as protect the Party's ideological foundation on religious issues, it is necessary to mobilize a variety of forces, in which the contingent of Party members who are religious people plays a "key" role. Promoting the role of party members who are religious people to protect the Party's ideological foundation on religious issues is both a task and an important goal in implementing Resolution No. 35-NQ/TW, dated October 22, 2018 of the Politburo in the coming time.
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| Xuan Truong District Party Committee ( Nam Dinh ) meets with Catholic party members in 2024. |
Religion is a field that always receives attention from domestic and international public opinion. This is a field that is easily exploited for sabotage activities that cause division in the great national unity bloc, causing political and social instability. Practice has shown that reactionary elements in the country and hostile forces outside often use religious tricks to attack and deny the good policies of our Party and State towards religions. In social life, religion has the function of compensating for the deficiencies in people's psychological, emotional and spiritual needs; it can reduce negative human psychology to reach the noble values of truth - goodness - beauty. Therefore, fighting to defeat this sinister plot and trick is an urgent matter; at the same time, it is also an important task in protecting the viewpoints of Marxism - Leninism, Ho Chi Minh's thought and the Party's guidelines and policies on religion and related issues.
Nam Dinh province is a land of religious diversity, with 3 religions recognized by the State: Catholicism, Buddhism, Protestantism; with the number of Catholic dignitaries and followers ranking 3rd in the country and Buddhism ranking 2nd in the North; about 25% of the population follows Catholicism (about 500,000 people), there are more than 4,600 party members who are religious... Religions in Nam Dinh in particular and Vietnam in general are diverse, intertwined, living together in solidarity and peace; there are no conflicts.
Taking advantage of the multidimensional, complex and universal nature of religion, hostile and reactionary forces always seek to sabotage, distort and fabricate social issues through religion and vice versa, religiousize social issues to incite and divide the great national unity bloc, divide religions and divide each religion internally. In fact, they often target two important issues: the so-called "promotion of religious freedom" and the religious policies of the Party and State. Correctly and harmoniously resolving religious issues has never been easy, requiring perseverance, patience combined with the intelligence and art of internal and external affairs of the Party, State and authorities at all levels.
Over the years, with the practical experience of many localities and units, we have built a variety of forces in the work of protecting the Party's ideological foundation, fighting against erroneous and hostile views. From the orthodox forces in the political system at all levels, the people's armed forces, socio-political organizations to all classes of people, even progressive foreigners. Through that, the work of protection and struggle also takes place in all economic, socio-political, domestic and international areas, in different forms of cyberspace, press, forums... and has achieved many positive results. However, some "traditional" tricks that hostile and reactionary forces often exploit and use are still effective in specific cases such as ethnic issues, human rights, religion, etc. In which, religion is still a very difficult problem to prevent, fight and solve.
From that reality, we need to perceive and accurately and objectively assess the role of religious party members in political tasks, especially tasks related to religious work and especially the task of protecting the Party's ideological foundation, fighting against erroneous and hostile views in the new situation in order to have appropriate solutions to promote the role of religious party members in this work. Our Party has soon realized the need to admit religious party members who have sufficient conditions to mobilize the combined strength of diverse components and classes in society to effectively carry out its political tasks and comprehensive leadership; Specifically, the Party issued Regulation No. 123-QD/TW, dated September 28, 2004 of the Politburo and Instruction No. 40-HD/BTCTW, dated April 8, 2005 of the Central Organizing Committee on "Some points on admitting party members for religious people and religious party members participating in religious activities", most recently Regulation No. 06-QDi/TW, dated August 28, 2018 on "Some points on admitting party members for religious people and religious party members participating in religious activities". Those perceptions are concretized by regulations on the tasks, powers and responsibilities of religious party members in the above documents. Through practical experience in implementing Resolution No. 35-NQ/TW of the Politburo and the Party's viewpoints, it can be seen that religious party members have the following roles in protecting the Party's ideological foundation:
Firstly , it is to propagate and mobilize religious followers, monks, nuns, dignitaries, and officials to understand and properly implement the Party's guidelines and the State's policies and laws on religion and religious work.
A religious Party member is first and foremost a believer, having influence over fellow believers in terms of spirituality, spiritual life as well as words, speech and living behaviors. Therefore, religious Party members, especially those who hold the role of religious dignitaries and officials, have great persuasion power over religious people, becoming a "link" to propagate, mobilize, disseminate and protect the messages, viewpoints, guidelines of the Party, policies and laws of the State to their religious community; it is even more valuable if it is about religious issues and religious work because they are people who study, understand and practice religion. Xuan Truong district has about 30% of the population following Catholicism, is a key religious district of Nam Dinh province, with the Bui Chu Bishopric managing the activities of a Diocese. The district Party Committee currently has 388 Catholic Party members (about 4.5% of the total number of Party members in the district) with nearly 180 comrades participating in activities, holding positions from the district to the grassroots level, teachers at all levels... The Standing Committee of the District Party Committee issued Resolution No. 84-NQ/HU, dated November 13, 2008 on "strengthening religious work in the district", all communes and towns have established Steering Committees for religious work headed by the Standing Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee. The construction of advanced and exemplary new rural areas (NTM) has important contributions from Catholic cadres, Party members and parishioners; Xuan Truong district achieved NTM standards in 2017; 20/20 communes and towns have met advanced NTM standards, 6 model NTM communes, of which 2 communes have met NTM model standards in 2022: Xuan Tien commune with about 87% of the population following Catholicism, Xuan Phuong commune (now Tra Lu commune) with about 73% of the population. Currently, most parishes and chapels have met the "Security and order safety" standard; 85% of Catholic households have achieved the title of "Model Catholic Family", no complaints, few social evils.
Xuan Duc Parish - Xuan Ninh Commune is a model in the movement "All people protect national security" of the district and the province. In 2023, the district had 81 Catholic youths out of a total of 245 youths joining the army... The team of cadres and party members who are Catholics become a "bridge" between the Party Committee, the government and Catholic compatriots, helping many of the Party's policies and guidelines to come into life quickly and effectively; a "bridge" to promote cultural values, religious ethics in socio-economic development, ensure political security, attract religious resources to contribute to social security work, promote the strength of the great national unity bloc, actively contribute to building the core force, consolidating the organization of the Fatherland Front, political and social organizations at the grassroots level.
Second, directly participate in protecting the Party's ideological foundation, fighting against erroneous and hostile viewpoints, especially on religious issues. As party members, religious party members must seriously and directly carry out the duties of party members, including the duty to protect the Party's ideological foundation, fighting against erroneous and hostile viewpoints. With the understanding of "insiders" about religion, religious party members have the duty to detect and have a combative attitude towards acts of taking advantage of religion to operate against the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's policies and laws, harming the State, the legitimate rights and interests of the people, causing division in the religious solidarity bloc, the great national solidarity both within religion and outside political and social life. Within religion, no one can do this role better than them.
Third, it is to gather religious forces to participate in protecting the Party, protecting the socialist regime, protecting the Fatherland, and fighting against erroneous and hostile viewpoints. With their own prestige and influence, each individual Party member who is a religious follower plays the role of gathering religious forces and organizations to participate in protecting the Party, protecting the socialist regime, and protecting the Fatherland. History has proven that not only Party members who are religious followers, but also each religious dignitary, official, believer, and compatriot have become "revolutionary soldiers" in specific historical circumstances. They are ready to fight with their fellow believers, compatriots, and other religions for justice, for the regime, and for the socialist Fatherland of Vietnam whenever necessary. In the current period, along with the increasingly improved level of social knowledge, a part of compatriots, believers, dignitaries, and religious officials have very high levels of knowledge (awareness, theory, expertise, qualities, etc.). They are fully capable of fighting and refuting wrong, distorted, hostile viewpoints and arguments, especially wrong, hostile arguments related to religion. Winning over this force will contribute to improving the effectiveness of protection and struggle work; at the same time, they themselves are also the strongest affirmation to the world and external forces about freedom of religion and belief in Vietnam.
The above roles are very general and fundamental for party members who are religious in protecting the Party's ideological foundation and fighting against erroneous and hostile views on religious issues. In practical conditions, party members who are religious will have different specific tasks to carry out appropriate protection and fighting work. Frankly, although the group of party members who are religious have performed well the tasks, powers and responsibilities of party members, playing an important "connecting" role between the Party and authorities at all levels with religions, dignitaries, officials and religious people; however, there are also many party members who are religious who have not been active, have not fulfilled their tasks, and have even "turned their backs" on the Party and our regime. This is a worrying reality, therefore, in order to protect the Party and the regime, there must be solutions to promote the role of party members who are religious in protecting the Party's ideological foundation.
Specifically, it is necessary to strengthen the close and specific leadership of Party committees at all levels over the work of Party members, especially Party members who are religious. Party committees at all levels need to focus on leading and directing the implementation of Party members' work, especially Party members who are religious, in a close and specific manner. For the Party Central Committee, it is necessary to further specify the points on admitting Party members to religious people to facilitate the "screening" of Party members; at the same time, build a good management mechanism for Party members who are religious, especially in their participation in religious activities.
Party committees at all levels, based on practical situations, especially traditions and religious characteristics of the locality, develop specific measures to "select" outstanding religious people to join the Party, avoiding chasing after numbers and formalities. Ensure principles and criteria but be flexible and creative, not letting reactionary elements "slip into" the Party but also not "missing" religious compatriots who are "good in life and good in religion", revolutionary, patriotic, "respectful of religion and loving the Party".
Second, raise awareness, educate and foster revolutionary ideals for party members who are religious, the elite masses who follow religion and the spirit of patriotism and protection of the regime towards compatriots who follow religion. Party members who are religious are first of all enlightened about revolutionary ideals and have political awareness at a certain level. However, it is necessary to regularly educate and foster to raise awareness, political theory and professional level to avoid the phenomenon of fading revolutionary ideals. This is also the right to self-improvement and development of each party member who is a religious person in the fields in which they work.
In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to the source and training of the elite religious masses to ensure the inheritance, continuity, and source of the contingent of Party members who are religious followers in the Party. From there, promote the spirit of patriotism, protect the regime in the religious community, build a "position" to firmly protect the ideological foundation of the Party, protect the socialist regime and protect the Fatherland right from within the religions.
Third, building a contingent of party members who are religious people holding the roles of religious dignitaries and officials in the direction of "respecting the religion and loving the country", "respecting the religion and loving the Party". To build this "elite" contingent, it is necessary to do a good job of party members' work from the stages of admission, planning, nurturing revolutionary ideals, expertise, professional skills, and moral qualities. Along with that, there must be attention and close coordination between Party committees, authorities at all levels, localities, units and religious organizations.
The Party members who hold the role of religious dignitaries and officials have the ability to mobilize the people, persuade, use the prestige of their positions, the prestige of their religions, the prestige of their organizations and their personal prestige to carry out assigned political tasks. Especially, they guide the people, communities and religious organizations to comply with the Party's policies and guidelines, and the State's policies and laws; and play the role of rallying forces in different situations if necessary.
The 13th National Party Congress determined: “Mobilizing, uniting, and gathering religious organizations, dignitaries, and followers to live a “good life and good religion”, actively contributing to the cause of building and defending the Fatherland. Ensuring that religious organizations operate in accordance with the law and the charter and regulations recognized by the State. Promoting good cultural and ethical values and resources of religions for the cause of national development” is both the Party’s policy and goal, and the driving force for the country’s development and progress. In implementing those goals and policies, Party members who are religious followers are the “bloodline” bridge between the Party and the State and religions.
President Ho Chi Minh once advised, “Buddhists believe in Buddha, Christians believe in God; just as many of us believe in Confucianism. They are the supreme beings, so we believe in them.” In the face of increasingly sophisticated, cunning, and fierce sabotage by hostile and reactionary forces in exploiting religious issues, the requirements of protecting the Party’s ideological foundation and fighting against erroneous and hostile views on religious issues are becoming more urgent and require the participation of the entire political system, the people, and religious compatriots. Trusting, taking advantage of and having correct policies, in accordance with orthodox religions, compatriots, believers and especially party members who are religious people is an endogenous strength, a condition to ensure the effectiveness and victory of the work of protecting the ideological foundation of the Party, protecting the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland against distorted and erroneous views of hostile forces, especially on the issue of religion.
Tran Xuan Bach
Deputy Head of Propaganda Department of Xuan Truong District Party Committee
Source: https://baonamdinh.vn/chinh-tri/202411/phong-chong-dien-bien-hoa-binh-dang-vien-la-nguoi-theo-ton-giao-nhan-to-then-chot-trong-bao-ve-nen-tang-tu-tuong-cua-dang-5a04b34/
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