Some new religious phenomena or illegal beliefs and religions (also known as "evil religions" or "strange religions") borrow the names of ethnic beliefs and religious doctrines and laws to operate more and more, expanding their areas of operation to many provinces and cities.
Preliminary statistics as of June 2023 show that nationwide, there are about 100 "evil religions" and "strange religions" that have had and are having negative impacts and adverse impacts on the legitimate and legal religious and belief needs of the people, social stability and political security and order, including some evil religions that are being exploited by hostile forces with the aim of dividing the great national unity bloc and opposing the Party and the State.
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"Evil religions" borrow the teachings and laws of orthodox religions for propaganda. (Illustration: Women's Union)[/caption]Tricks
“Evil religions” can be formed in the form of “borrowing the names” of ethnic beliefs and the teachings and laws of religions that have been recognized by the Party and the State as legal entities, to be established (such as: Dega Protestantism, Vietnam Evangelical Church of Christ, Jesus, Ba Co Do... originating from Protestantism) or borrowing the teachings and laws of Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism and ethnic beliefs to operate (such as: Dieu Am Dharma Door, Thanh Hai Supreme Master, Falun Gong...).
The methods, tricks of operation and main goals of the leaders of "evil religions" have some things in common: borrowing the teachings and canons of orthodox religions, or ethnic beliefs and customs... to create their own "teachings and canons" for propaganda and attraction.
After gaining trust and attracting many people to participate, they propagate superstition, defraud and appropriate property... such as asking to pay a sum of personal income, advising sick people not to take medicine, just worship, offer flowers, pray, use holy water or "recite mantras" to cure all diseases (such as: Church of God the Mother; Original Energy of Vietnamese Bronze Drum; Falun Gong...) to serve the personal interests of the leader or a group of people.
The above activities have attracted a segment of the population to believe in them, causing many consequences for families and social communities, despite being condemned by the whole society; (3) a number of "evil religions" (such as: Je Sua, Ba Co Do, Duong Van Minh, Dega Protestantism, Vietnam Evangelical Church of Christ...) are supported by hostile forces, taking advantage of ethnic and religious issues... to attract and incite ethnic minorities to participate in activities against the Party and the State.
When discovered and handled by the government, hostile and reactionary forces will take advantage to distort, incite, and slander Vietnam for violating human rights and suppressing religion in order to divide the great national unity bloc, move towards " peaceful evolution", causing instability in political security and order in the area.
The identifying characteristics of the activities of these subjects are often stealthy, hiding under many sophisticated covers to avoid detection by authorities such as using social networks, associations, and closed groups on cyberspace to operate, propagate, and attract others to participate.
The masterminds and leaders who founded the evil cults may have previously followed and held certain positions in orthodox religions, but due to their deviant thoughts, conflicts, and internal violations, they were expelled, or were influenced and enticed by hostile and reactionary forces to form evil cults with bad political goals, leading to activities against the Party and the State; these subjects often believe that they were chosen by a "supernatural being" to be a "bridge" to help people in difficult circumstances, thereby creating trust to attract many people to join the evil cults.
Participants in “evil cults” come from many different social classes, but often focus on people with low education levels, ethnic minorities with difficult circumstances, deadlocks in life, economy … with the desire to find spiritual and material support. Grasping this psychology, the subjects in the evil cults have propagated, enticed, enticed, and even forced people to participate; once participating, they are often blind, fanatic, ready to ignore morality, give up family happiness, social morality, wealth, material things, and even ready to sacrifice their lives to believe in evil cults.
In some cases, after participating, due to realizing the dangers of evil cults, wanting to give up, they were threatened, forced, using images of "supernatural beings", "devils"... to threaten, force them to follow "obedience"; under the direction of those who borrowed the name of gods, the participants were instructed on how to propagate, attract others to join, at the same time requiring participants to keep secrets, not participate in cultural activities of the community and customs of the nation, whoever attracts many people to participate will "increase the law, attain enlightenment", be "blessed" by gods, hold certain positions and roles in organizations...
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Nam Po District Police, Dien Bien Province, increased the number of officers and soldiers to the grassroots to propagate and mobilize people to be vigilant against evil cults. (Photo: Religious Affairs Department) [/caption]Vietnam respects and ensures freedom of belief and religion.
Respecting and ensuring freedom of belief and religion is a consistent and correct policy of our Party and State, which is affirmed in Article 24 of the 2013 Constitution: “1. Everyone has the right to freedom of belief and religion, to follow or not to follow any religion. Religions are equal before the law; 2. The State respects and protects the right to freedom of belief and religion; 3. No one is allowed to violate freedom of belief and religion or take advantage of belief and religion to violate the law”.
At the same time, the Resolution of the 13th National Congress of our Party also determined "Focus on perfecting and implementing well the ethnic and religious policies... implementing well the policy of religious solidarity, great national solidarity..."; with the above spirit, the right to freedom of belief and religion has been and continues to be of interest to our Party and State, creating conditions for people to participate in orthodox religions according to their wishes, thereby creating Vietnam as a multi-religious country, the vast majority of people have a religious life in accordance with customs, practices, doctrines, canon laws and legal regulations, at the same time, those who follow or do not follow a religion are treated fairly and equally by the Party and State.
It can be affirmed that our Party and State always care about and create conditions for religions to develop, respect and ensure freedom of belief and religion, with the motto "to follow or not to follow a religion is the freedom of belief of every citizen" but must ensure compliance with the provisions of the law. At the same time, the authorities are also determined to fight against the intentions, not allowing hostile forces and bad elements to take advantage of the above issues to propagate and entice people to participate in "evil religions" and "strange religions", not allowing subjects to violate the stability of social order, violate national security, cause instability in political security (ANCT) and security and order (ANTT).
Phuong Anh
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