Freedom of belief and religion in Vietnam

(LĐ online) - Vietnam has many beliefs and religions, the proportion of the population with beliefs and religions accounts for 27% of the country's population with over 27 million followers, more than 54,000 dignitaries, over 144,000 officials and nearly 30,000 places of worship. Compared to 2022, the number of followers increased by nearly 56,000 people, the number of dignitaries increased by 814 people, and the number of places of worship increased by 142.

As a country with an extremely rich belief system, our country currently has 50,703 religious establishments; of which, about 3,000 relics are associated with religious and belief establishments, some relics are recognized by UNESCO as world heritage sites...

Vietnam has a very diverse religious and belief life with many religious festivals that have become community holidays such as: Christmas of Catholicism; Buddha's Birthday, Vu Lan of Buddhism; Yen Dieu Tri Palace Festival of Tay Ninh Cao Dai Church... Religious and belief activities have been and are meeting the religious and belief needs of the masses and have made positive contributions to social life.

However, for a long time, taking advantage of the issue of belief and religion to sabotage the Vietnamese State has always been a tactic that hostile forces and reactionary opportunists often use. It is easy to find on the Internet many images and video clips that are cut and edited with sophisticated content with one-sided and negative comparisons aimed at criticizing, eroding trust, dividing the community of believers; distorting belief and religious policies, and defaming religious freedom in Vietnam. From there, creating opposition between religions with the argument: The State is supporting, backing, valuing this religion, suffocating that religion; at the same time, denying the policy of equality between religions of our Party and State...

Currently, there are thousands of websites and fanpages of reactionary exile organizations that have been propagating distorted information about freedom of belief and religion in Vietnam. The most prominent are the websites of organizations such as: Viet Tan, the Committee for Rescue of People Crossing the Sea and many other websites...

Recently, many websites and fanpages have released arguments criticizing the government, distorting the policies and laws of our State regarding freedom of belief and religion, specifically: Viet Tan Fanpage distorts "In Vietnam there is no freedom of belief and religion"; "The State does not want independent religion so it does not allow the Tay Nguyen Evangelical Church of Christ to operate"; "Preacher Y Krec Byă was slandered by the State. A person who only fights for freedom of religion, has no intention of opposing the State". Y Krec Byă is a lawbreaker but is praised and exemplified as an honest person, a respectable "teacher" of religion... is ridiculous.

And in reality, with just one social media phenomenon, hostile forces and organizations with ill will towards Vietnam will try to distort and accuse the government of preventing freedom of belief and religion... For example, the "Thich Minh Tue phenomenon"; through monitoring on mass media, we all know that "Thich Minh Tue" is not a Buddhist monk, just a person with faith and is practicing a "cultivation" method similar to the "ascetic practice" method of Buddhism... However, some extremist organizations and individuals at home and abroad have taken advantage of this incident to propagate, distort, and incite against the Party and the State of Vietnam (typically, after there was information that officials in a locality prevented a crowd of pedestrians at a cemetery, the Viet Tan fanpage used the title "the government did not allow monk Minh Tue to stay overnight", inciting many anti-cultivation comments...); inciting monks, nuns, Buddhists and people to follow "Thich Minh Tue", boycotting Buddhist monks and nuns, causing division and disunity among religions...

Throughout the process of leading the revolution, especially since the implementation of the country's renovation, our Party and State have issued many documents related to beliefs, religions and religious work; all of which affirm the freedom of belief and religion of the People and the State always cares about, creates conditions for, and ensures that religions operate and develop in accordance with the Charter and Regulations; strictly prohibits acts of taking advantage of beliefs and religions to conduct illegal activities.

The 13th National Congress of the Party affirmed: “Ensure that religious organizations operate in accordance with the law and the Charter and Statutes recognized by the State. Promote the good cultural and ethical values and resources of religions for the cause of national development.”

The White Book on Religion and Religious Policy in Vietnam issued by the Government Committee for Religious Affairs in 2023 opened with the affirmation: “Vietnam is a multi-religious country. Religion in Vietnam is likened to a miniature picture of religion in the world.”

This further affirms that religion and religious activities in Vietnam are recognized, and that religion in Vietnam is a miniature part of the religious system worldwide, demonstrating the multi-religious nature in the lives of Vietnamese people. Ensuring religious freedom is a consistent policy of our Party and State; it is always implemented by the Party and State of Vietnam with great will and determination.

In reality, religions in Vietnam are all tightly organized, with systems from the central to the grassroots level, some with systems organized from abroad. Religions are closely connected according to the provisions of doctrine and canon law, and have connectivity and rapid communication throughout the entire religious community.

Religious dignitaries, officials, and religious practitioners have the right to participate in state and social management, and to run for election to the National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels like all other citizens in accordance with the law. The 15th National Assembly has 05 delegates who are religious dignitaries and religious practitioners. Currently, there are over 10,000 religious dignitaries, religious practitioners, and followers who are delegates to People's Councils at all levels for the 2021-2026 term.

Religious organizations and individuals are facilitated to participate in international activities. Since 2011, there have been nearly 2,000 religious individuals leaving the country to attend training courses abroad, attend international conferences and seminars related to religion; nearly 500 foreign delegations with more than 3,000 people have entered Vietnam to exchange, interact, and receive religious guidance at religious establishments in Vietnam, and attend religious events organized by Vietnamese religious organizations...

The vivid picture above proves that the tricks of hostile forces exploiting the issue of belief and religion to sabotage Vietnam are just slanderous, fabricated, and baseless words that we all need to identify and frankly refute. Identifying and refuting these distorted arguments is of great significance, contributing to helping all classes of people, domestic and international communities clearly understand and correctly perceive the situation of freedom of belief and religion and the law on belief and religion in our country; contributing to protecting the solidarity of the whole people; at the same time, it is an opportunity to preserve and strengthen the close and close relationship between the Party, the State and the religious community in Vietnam.

Source: http://baolamdong.vn/chinh-tri/202412/tu-do-tin-nguong-ton-giao-o-viet-nam-su-that-khong-the-phu-nhan-0280c95/