Religious freedom in Vietnam
(PTOJ) - Issues about religion, democracy and human rights are always the subjects that hostile forces use to oppose the Party and State of Vietnam. The article identifies wrongful, hostile, and distorting views on religious freedom in Vietnam as stated in the Annual Reports of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and some other social web pages. At the same time, it provides evidence to criticize, fight against and refute such false and distorted views, affirming the achievements of the State of Vietnam in ensuring the right to freedom of belief, religion, and the right to freedom of non-religion of the Vietnamese people.
In recent years, due to a biased and unfaithful view, the report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom as well as on some websites stated false and unobjective statements about the religious freedom in Vietnam, such as: There is no actual religious freedom in Vietnam, the issue of religious freedom in Vietnam has not yet met the provisions of international conventions; Vietnamese law has many “unclear” provisions to control and restrict religious freedom, use provisions on national security with “ambiguous crimes” to “suppress and restrict” religious freedom; religions in Vietnam are forced to silence or turn into tools of the State; The State of Vietnam makes it difficult for the registration and recognition of religious organizations, especially for religious groups in remote, isolated and ethnic minority areas; the military service policy of the State of Vietnam hinders the right of Khmer youth to religious study; the activities of figures fighting for religious freedom are always hindered by the State and restricted from traveling; in Vietnam there are “prisoners of conscience”, “prisoners of religion”, and so on(1).
The above statements are completely fabricated, wrongful, and distorting the policy of religious freedom in Vietnam. In fact, the State of Vietnam has signed many international documents related to the right to freedom of belief and religion and has continuously made efforts to ensure the people’s right to freedom of belief and religion.
The freedom of belief and religion in Vietnam is clearly stated in Article 24 of the Constitution 2013: “Everyone has the right to freedom of belief and religion, and has the right to follow any religion or to follow no religion. All religions are equal before the law. The State shall respect and protect the freedom of belief and religion. No one may violate the freedom of belief and religion, nor may anyone take advantage of a belief or religion in order to violate the law”. This constitutional content of Vietnam is fully compatible with international law(2).
A number of fundamental principles and standards on protection and assurance of the right to freedom of belief and religion as well as freedom of non-belief and non-religion have been recognized in important laws and codes of Vietnam, including the Criminal Procedure Code 2015 (Article 9); Criminal Code 2015 (Article 116), Law on Education 2019 (Articles 13, 20); Law on Organization of Government 2015 (Article 17); Law on Belief and Religion 2016, etc.
Accordingly, Vietnamese law has clear provisions on rights and guarantees the right to freedom of belief and religion as well as the freedom of non-belief and non-religion of all people. The Law on Belief and Religion stipulates the right to freedom to believe or not to believe in religion, to freely express one’s beliefs, to practice belief and religion rituals, to participate in festivals, to study and practice religious theory, religious regulations; rights of religious organizations and affiliated religious organizations; religious freedom of foreigners legally residing in Vietnam.
In practice, the State of Vietnam has also been making efforts to ensure the people’s right to freedom of religion. Followers of all religions in Vietnam are now allowed to carry out normal religious activities at their families and religious establishments or other legal places according to the traditional rituals of their religion. Religious individuals and organizations are facilitated and ensured normal religious living conditions in accordance with the law, such as creating conditions for religions to perfect their religious organizational structure; to create conditions for establishments of worship and religious activities, for scriptures serving the study and practice of religion, for training and fostering religious dignitaries, instructors, and for expanding international relations, etc.
By 2018, the State of Vietnam had recognized and granted operation registration to 41 organizations belonging to 16 religions with 26,689,748 followers, including 57,716 dignitaries, 130,167 subdignitaries; religions in Vietnam have 29,854 places of worship(3) and more than 60 training institutions, of which 17 are at university level(4).
Annually, in Vietnam, there are hundreds of books and religious publications, with millions of copies being published to serve the people’s need of learning and understanding religion. Catholicism and Protestantism alone published more than 1 million copies of Bible in 2020. Currently, religious organizations in Vietnam have 15 newspapers and magazines; most religious organizations have their own websites.
From 2003 to 2017, 9,343 religious places of worship in Vietnam were restored or newly built(5). By 2020, most of religious places of worship were repaired, of which about one-third were under large-scale renovation.
Recently, the State has created conditions for religious organizations in Vietnam to host large-scale regional and international religious activities over a long period of time, such as Catholicism with the Jubilee Mass in 2010 and the Asian Bishops’ Conferences in 2012; Buddhism with Vesak Buddhist Festivals in 2008, 2014, 2019; Protestantism with the Celebration of 500th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation in 2017, to name a few.
For any country, social security and order, and national sovereignty must always be a top priority, and freedom of religion and belief must be placed within the State legal framework, and associated with the obligation to protect the rights and interests of the nation. This is also mentioned in Paragraph 3 of Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: “Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health, or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others”.
Thus, this International Covenant affirms that the legal right to freedom of religion, as well as other rights, is limited by the legal framework. Therefore, in each country, the right to religious freedom will have its own limitations. For example, Article 25 of the French Separation Code states: “Meetings for the celebration of worship held on the premises of a religious association or in a public place must be subject to governmental supervision for the interest of public order”. In March 2004, France’s National Assembly passed a law that prohibits students in public schools from wearing “symbols and clothing manifesting a religious affiliation”; In February 2021, France’s National Assembly passed a bill against separatism to prevent activities that take advantage of religion to carry out national division and separatism.
In the United States, although there are no separate laws or ordinances regarding religion, all religious activities are governed by the provisions of the civil law system. The US does not set up a separate management apparatus for religion, the management of religious activities is done by each state and is the work of administrative agencies, but religious organizations that want to operate must register with the authority and must ensure certain conditions as prescribed by law. The activities of religious organizations in the locality must comply with the law and be directly supervised by State agencies. In Germany, when a Catholic cleric takes office, he must take an oath to respect the constitutional government, respect the interests of Germany, and so on.
It is obvious that the right to religious freedom is limited and subject to the laws of each country. Therefore, it is impossible to bring the concept of religious freedom in one country to apply to all other countries, and it is also impossible to bring the values and standards of religious freedom in one country to evaluate the right to religious freedom in another country.
In Vietnam, Article 5 of the Law on Belief and Religion clearly stipulates the prohibited acts of religion and belief, including “1) Discriminating and stigmatizing people for beliefs or religions; 2) Forcing others to follow or not to follow, bribing others into following or not following, or hindering others in following or not following a belief or religion; 3) Profaning a belief or religion; 4) Carrying out belief and religious activities to: a) Infringe upon national defense, security and sovereignty, social order and safety and the environment; b) Violate social morality; infringe upon the body, health, life, health and property and hurt the honor and dignity of others; c) Obstruct the exercise of civic rights and performance of civic obligations; d) Divide nationalities; divide religions; divide people who follow a belief or a religion from people who do not, and people who follow different beliefs or religions; 5)Abusing belief and religious activities for self-seeking purposes”.
These regulations are aimed at ensuring public order and security, fundamental human rights as well as the right to freedom of belief and religion as well as freedom of non-belief and non-religion, ensuring national sovereignty. This article complies with Article 14 of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 2013(6) and is also fully consistent with Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The statement that the State of Vietnam makes it difficult for the registration and recognition of religious organizations, especially for religious groups in remote, isolated and ethnic minority areas is extremely inaccurate. In fact, the State of Vietnam has granted operation registration and recognition to 311 branches, 1,742 Protestant groups in the Central Highlands, 14 branches and 797 Protestant groups in the Northern mountainous region. This was acknowledged in the 2020 Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom(7). In addition, organizations of Catholicism, Buddhism, Islam, Banism, Brahmanism... are also recognized by the State of Vietnam and are free to operate in ethnic minority areas (Catholic and Buddhist organizations are recognized to operate in ethnic minority areas in the Central Highlands, Northern mountainous areas, and Southwest regions; meanwhile organizations of Brahmanism, Hinduism and Islam are recognized to operate in the Champa community).
The argument that some religious associations and groups in ethnic minority areas have not been recognized such as “Christian Evangelical Church”, “Gospel Church”, “International Dega Church”, etc being harassed by the Vietnamese government is also completely false. In fact, the aforementioned organizations are hiding in the shadow of religious activities to intrigue the Vietnamese state, causing division and national separation. The “International Dega Church” with key figures such as Ksok Kok, Bra Su Kbong in the US and Rah Lan Ngol, Y Wi Kson (A ma Truong) in Vietnam has caused political protests and riots in 2001, 2004 and many demonstrations in the following years with an attempt to establish an “Autonomous Dega State” in the Central Highlands. The heads and core groups of the “Vietnamese Christian Evangelical Church”, “The Cross of Jesus Christ” and “Ha Mon” in the Central Highlands are conscious of creating these phenomena into New Protestantism and New Catholicism of ethnic minorities in the area, also known as “Degar Protestantism” and “Dega Catholicism”, promised to be the official religion of “Degar State”, which clearly shows separatism, serving the political intrigues of hostile forces in opposing the State of Vietnam.
The opinion that the military service policy of the State of Vietnam hinders the right of Khmer youth to study religion is groundless. Vietnam’s military service policy applies to all Vietnamese citizens regardless of ethnicity or religion, and in fact, when implementing this policy, it does not hinder the Khmer youth’s right to study religion. Traditionally, Khmer young men aged 13, 14 and older can enter the pagoda to study religion for a while (long or short depending on each person’s conditions) and each Khmer man can enter the pagoda to learn many times in life. The State of Vietnam respects the Khmer youth’s religious tradition and does not impose any obstacles to the entry and exit of the pagoda of Khmer youth. The State of Vietnam even does its best to create favorable conditions for the education and training of Theravada Buddhism and the training and improvement of Buddhism and worldly education for Khmer youth. As evidence, the State encourages Khmer pagodas and monks to open foreign language and Pali language classes for Khmer people; the State also pays attention to and creates favorable conditions for Pali Intermediate School (located in Sóc Trăng city) to maintain its operation and development; provides land and capital for the construction of the Theravada Buddhist Academy; creates a specific mechanism for Theravada Buddhism in training to improve the worldly study of monks (prioritize state educational institutions associated with the Theravada Buddhist to organize undergraduate and postgraduate education for Khmer Theravada Buddhist monks), etc.
Regarding the perception that the State of Vietnam restricts the freedom to travel of some religious dignitaries, making it difficult to assign and transfer jobs. In fact, some dignitaries have taken advantage of religious freedom to propagate false information about the policies of the Party and the State of Vietnam, causing division and disunity within Catholics, dividing national unity, and taking advantage of religious activities to oppose the government, distorting the history of Vietnam. The activities of these dignitaries have violated the religious practice of the Bishops’ Conference of Vietnam(8) and to a certain extent the contents of items a) and d), Clause 4, Article 5 of the Law on Belief and Religion. Therefore, the above-mentioned people have been reallocated by the Catholic Church. Therefore, the allegation that the Vietnamese State restricts freedom of movement or makes it difficult for the assignment and transfer of jobs among religious dignitaries is just slanderous and against the Party and the State of Vietnam.
In Vietnam, all people who violate the law will be handled according to law, regardless of their religion or belief. Some of the figures mentioned in the Annual Reports of the United States Commission on International Religious Advocacy as well as on some social forums are referred to as “prisoners of conscience”, “prisoners of religion” are actually Vietnamese citizens who have activities against the State, infringe upon national security, or using the name of religion to violate the provisions of Vietnamese law, so they have been handled according to regulations. This is completely normal, just like in many Western countries, people have been prosecuted for criminal acts in the name of religion that is beyond the limits of law.
It can be said that the Party and the State of Vietnam have been making efforts to improve the material and spiritual life, ensuring the right to freedom of belief and religion as well as freedom of non-religion for all people. However, hostile and reactionary forces in religion are deliberately ignoring the efforts of our Party and State, along with the achievements of religious freedom in Vietnam. They have been taking advantage of the religious issue to oppose the Party and State, and the socialist regime in Vietnam. Allegations that distort religious freedom in Vietnam are part of the intrigue of political reactionary forces who want to take advantage of freedom, democracy, human rights, ethnicity and religion as tools to bring Vietnam into the orbit of influence, serve the interests of major countries, put pressure and “bargain” Vietnam in exchange for political issues and economic interests in international relations and gradually reform Vietnam in the direction of freedom and democracy in the Western style, thereby transforming Vietnam’s political regime or creating an excuse to openly interfere in our country’s internal affairs. Therefore, all classes of people need to be aware to clearly identify the plots and tricks of hostile forces; well implement the strategy of great national unity, regardless of ethnicity, religion or belief, creating stability for the development of the country according to the goal that our people have chosen.
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Endnotes:
(1), (7) See: United States Department of State, Office of International Religious freedom, Vietnam international religious freedom report (2018, 2019, 2020), https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/VIETNAM-INTERNATIONAL-RELIGIOUS-FREEDOM-REPORT.pdf
Or: https://www.state.gov/reports/-report-on-international-religious-freedom/vietnam.
(2) Article 2 of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 1948 states: “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status”.
Article 18, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) 1966:
1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and freedom, either individually or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching.
2. No one shall be subject to coercion which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.
(3) Ministry of Home Affairs: List of religious organizations granted certificates of registration on religious activities as of December 2020; Government Committee for Religious Affairs, Summary report on the situation of religious work in 2019 and directions for 2020 (January 2020).
(4) Government Committee for Religious Affairs: Report summarizing 15 years of implementing Resolution No. 25-NQ/TW (2003-2018), Hanoi, 2018.
(5) Central Committee for People’s Mobilization: Religious Statistics (as of March 2017), Archives, Hanoi, 2017.
(6) Article 14 of the 2013 Constitution: “Human rights and citizens’ rights may not be limited unless prescribed by a law solely in case of necessity for reasons of national defense, national security, social order and safety, social morality and community well-being”.
(8) The religious practice of the Vietnamese Bishops’ Conference was defined in the 1980 Joint Letter: “Live out the gospel in the heart of the nation to serve the happiness of the compatriots”.
Assoc. Prof., Dr. HOANG THI LAN
Institute of Religion and Beliefs,
Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics
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