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The period between 1934 and 1975 witnessed not only the robust development of the Cao đài religion but also saw the separation of the Cao đài religion into different independent sects, sometimes as many as 30. The number of followers reached about two million, most of them living in the South and a small number scattered in several Northern and Central provinces.
After 1975, Cao đài sects were organized differently compared with the previous organizational structure of the Cao đài religion. They are now administered by the Church Council at the central level and the parishes at the grassroots level. From 1995 to 2000, nine Cao đài sects carried out their plenary congresses to approve their charters, a two-level administration system, and three councils: The High Council (Thượng hội), the Sacerdotal Council (Hội thánh), and the Popular Council (Hội Nhơn sanh). They adopted the following motto: “The Nation is glorious, the Way enlightens” (Nước vinh, Đạo sáng). At present, there are the following Cao đài sects: The Ante-Creation (Cao đài Tiên Thiên) Church, the Bright-Verity Way (Cao đài Minh Chơn Đạo) Church, the Cao đài Dazzling Bright (Chiếu Minh Long Châu) Church, the Cao đài Missionary (Truyền giáo) Church, the Cao đài Church of Tây Ninh Province, the Cao đài Correct Path (Ban Chỉnh đạo) Church, the Cao đài White Cloth (Bạch y) Church, the Cao đài Verity (Chơn lý) Church, and the Cao đài Prayer at the Three-Door Temple Gate (Cầu Kho Tam Quan) Church.
During resistance wars against foreign aggression, a majority of leaders and adherents of the various Cao đài sects actively assisted the revolution and contributed their efforts and wealth to the cause of national liberation and unification. Today, Cao đài followers actively take part in Vietnam’s Reform and Renewal and national defense and construction.
2.6. Hòa Hảo Buddhism
Documents show that Hòa Hảo Buddhism first appeared when World War II was about to start. Huỳnh Phú Sổ conducted a ceremony for the founding of Hòa Hảo Buddhism on 4 July 1939. The number of Hòa Hảo believers are few and mainly come from the area surrounding Hòa Hảo Village in An Giang province in the deep South of Vietnam. In 1940, the Southern Uprising broke out and was defeated. French reprisals overwhelmed the South. Many people found consolation and salvation in Hòa Hảo Buddhism. By late 1940, the followers numbered some hundreds of thousands.
Founder Huỳnh Phú Sổ established management boards for Hòa Hảo Buddhism at all levels in 1945. However, because of historical circumstances, only the Contemporary Central Representative Board of Hòa Hảo Buddhism was formally established in 1963 and recognized by the Sài Gòn regime on 5 February 1964. The religious power of Hòa Hảo Buddhism overlapped with the activities of the Dân Xã Party and the armed forces of the Hòa Hảo Buddhism.
Hòa Hảo Buddhists worship Buddha but not relics or pictures of Buddha. The symbol of Hòa Hảo Buddhism is a sheet of brown cloth symbolizing “Buddha is the heart, the heart is Buddha” (Phật tại tâm, tâm tức Phật).
In addition to worshipping Buddha and their ancestors, Hòa Hảo Buddhists honor and worship great national heroes and those who have rendered meritorious service to their communities. Hòa Hảo Buddhists do not worship saints or genies without clear origins. Since Hòa Hảo followers are lay people, worship and practice are very simple and conducted mainly at home. In each follower’s house, there are three altars: The altar to Buddha is in the highest place with only a piece of brown cloth; the altar to the ancestors is below the altar to Buddha; and an altar to Heaven is set up in front of the house. More recently, followers have placed a photograph of Huỳnh Phú Sổ just behind the brown cloth on the altar to Buddha.
A
scene from 2nd
Congress of Hòa Hảo Buddhist Congregation
in June 2004
The Hòa Hảo Buddhist Congregation has organized two congresses: The first term ran from 1999 to 2004, while the second is from 2004 to 2009.
The “2004 Charter” affirms the orientation of the Hòa Hảo Buddhist Congregation as “For Dharma, for the Nation” (Vì Đạo pháp, vì Dân tộc). The central Hòa Hảo doctrine is: “To study Buddhism to improve ourselves; to worship Buddha at home as lay-followers"; to teach followers about the Four Debts of Gratitude (to our ancestors and parents; to our country; to the Three Treasures – Buddha, Dharma, and the Buddhist Church; and to our fellow countrymen and mankind); to follow the eight teachings directly passed by the Venerable Prophet Huỳnh Phú Sổ; to help the poor and the misfortunate; to assist our compatriots in their businesses, marriages, funerals, and ceremonial affairs; to be useful to society and mankind.
According to the “2004 Charter", the Hòa Hảo Buddhist Congregation is administered by a two-level system of management committees set up at villages, districts and provinces/cities, at the top of which is the Central Management Council and Representatives at the provincial/city level. The Central Management Council consists of 21 members, with assisting departments such as Administration, Finance, Public Education, Organizing and Personnel, Social-Charity, and Monitoring.
The term of the Central Management Council is five years. The terms of the Provincial Representative and District Management Council resemble those of the Central Management Council.
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Beside the above mentioned religions, there are some other religions in Vietnam, such as Tịnh độ Cư sĩ Phật hội (The Pure Land Buddhist Home-Practice Association), Tứ Ân Hiếu Nghĩa, Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương, Baha’i, as well as some other Protestant sects.
CHAPTER 2
POLICIES
OF THE State OF VIeTNAM
REGARDING BELIEF AND RELIGION
1. President Hồ Chí Minh and Belief and Religion
The main content of Hồ Chí Minh’s thought on belief and religion encompasses religious unity and national harmony, mutual respect, and the guarantee of freedom to follow or not to follow belief and religion.
Hồ Chí Minh said: “The forces of our entire nation are our greatest strength. No one can defeat them"1. Uniting the people – including ethnic groups and religious groups – was the core factor leading to victory in Vietnam’s revolution. That concept was part of Hồ Chí Minh’s strategy of national unity.
With the spirit of national harmony and of uniting non-religious and religious people, President Hồ Chí Minh mobilized leaders and followers of various religions to devote themselves to the cause of national salvation by building the State and then gradually erasing prejudices left by history and by the conspiracy of some hostile forces wishing to cause conflicts among religious groups in Vietnam.
Hồ Chí Minh held that uniting non-religious and religious people was long-term and comprehensive unity carrying strategic significance. His sincerity, openness, generosity, and efforts to understand his compatriots’ concerns and inner thoughts left a deep impression in the hearts of religious followers.
The Declaration of Independence, which President Hồ Chí Minh drafted and then promulgated on 2 September 1945, quoted from and developed values of progressive ideologies on human rights from capitalist democratic revolutions. On 3 September 1945, the day after the Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, President Hồ Chí Minh chaired the first meeting of the Government Council. During this meeting, President Hồ raised six urgent matters to be addressed, the sixth of which was, “Ensure freedom to follow or not to follow a religion and promote the unity of religious and non-religious people"2.
On 9 November 1946, the first National Assembly of Vietnam approved the first Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, affirming in this document that “The people have freedom of religion". On 14 June 1955, President Hồ Chí Minh signed Decree No. 234/SL regulating religious activities in Vietnam’s new political system, a decision that both religious followers and non-followers eagerly welcomed and supported.
In 1958, constituents of Hà Nội asked President Hồ Chí Minh, “Will religions be limited in the process of building Socialism?” President Hồ reaffirmed the position of communists toward religions: “No. In other socialist countries, people have full freedom of religion. It is the same in Vietnam"3. He had previously pointed out definite ethical and cultural values of religions:
“Jesus Christ teaches: Morality means compassion.
“Siddhartha Gautama teaches: Morality means mercy.
“Confucius teaches: Morality means humanity"4.
These salient points made by President Hồ Chí Minh regarding socialism and religion rejected the reasoning that some were propagating among religious followers. Such false reasoning held that socialism was not reconcilable with Catholic values and that socialism would limit religion and would not allow it to co-exist with socialism. President Hồ’s words alleviated the concerns and doubts within the Catholic community as Vietnam began to enter the process of building a new society.
Hồ Chí Minh reminded his compatriots and the soldiers across the country to “care for and look after the material and spiritual life of religious compatriots. It is expected that production will continue to develop so that, as the material life becomes better, the spiritual life of citizens will also become more secure and peaceful"5.
Hồ Chí Minh regarded religion as an essential factor and part of mankind’s cultural heritage. There is no doubt that only someone who had experienced the reality of revolution and thoroughly understood religions could have such an opinion.
Hồ Chí Minh paid great attention to respecting and accepting differences in perception and thought and looked for similarities in common goals and ideologies in order to draw people together to complete the nation’s key tasks.
President Hồ Chí Minh spoke about the close relationship between religious followers and the nation in a simple way that was easy to understand yet was also profound: The love of God is closely connected to the love of one’s country, and worshiping God is closely associated with serving one’s country. If a country has honor, then religions will shine; only when the country is independent can there be freedom of religion.
According to Hồ Chí Minh, a religious person’s beliefs and love of his country are not in conflict. A Vietnamese citizen can simultaneously be both a patriot and a genuine believer in his/her religion.
Hồ Chí Minh consistently looked at religion and the nation in the spirit of great national unity. Religions can only be affirmed when they exist within the heart of a nation, and a nation on its way to development needs to know how to call on the core values of religion.
President Hồ Chí Minh was consistently respectful of the world’s most famous people, without discriminating whether they belonged to a religion or not or whether they came from the East or the West. He drew upon their values and their philosophies, which he distilled and developed. This heritage included wisdom from people such as Siddhartha Gautama, Confucius, Jesus Christ, Karl Marx, and Sun Yat-sen. Hồ Chí Minh regarded these leaders as great people from history and as his teachers and regarded himself as someone who wanted to be their young student.
2. Policies and Guidelines of the Communist Party of Vietnam Regarding Belief and Religion
During its leadership of the revolution as well as since its governing of society and the country, the Communist Party of Vietnam has paid consistent attention to religion and has adopted policies on belief and religion that have been sound and appropriate for each stage of the revolution.
In 1986, Vietnam began to implement its policy of Reform and Renewal (Đổi mới). On 16 October 1990, the Politburo that had been elected from the VIth Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam renovated its policies regarding religion through Resolution No. 24-NQ/TW, “Strengthening Religious Affairs in the New Situation". On 12 March 2003, after thirteen years of implementing that policy on religion and after summarizing its actual practice and reviewing newly changing issues that had recently emerged in both the domestic and international context, the Politburo of the IXth Congress passed Resolution No. 25-NQ/TW, “Religious Affairs". This became the policy for the Party and the State of Vietnam regarding religion for the period of Reform and Renewal. The ideas of Resolution No. 25 can be summarized as follows:
Religious activities and religious affairs in this new period should: Strengthen the unity among followers of different religions within the context of great national unity; develop the general strength of all ethnic groups; contribute to successful implementation of the country’s industrialization and modernization; and build and defend the stability of the Homeland.
Belief and religion are spiritual needs of a segment of the population. Those needs currently exist and will continue to co-exist with the nation during the process of building socialism in Vietnam. Followers of different religions are an integral part of Vietnam’s great national unity. There is consistent implementation of the policy to respect and guarantee the people’s right to freedom of belief, the right to follow or not to follow any religion, and the right to take part in normal religious activities according to the law. Religious activities must be in accordance with the legal framework. All religions are equal before the law.
The Party and the State of Vietnam consistently implement a policy of great national unity; they do not discriminate in treatment on the basis of belief and religion. They promote the unity of followers of different religions and unity between believers and non-believers. Great national unity with the goal of a prosperous people, a strong nation, and a society that is equitable, democratic, and cultured draws followers of religions together in a common cause. Each citizen – regardless of belief or religion – has both the right and the responsibility to build and protect the Homeland. The Party and the State encourage the people to uphold their patriotic spirit and determination to protect the independence and unity of the Homeland; through socio-economic policies as well as public security and national defense, ensure material and spiritual needs of the people at large, including followers of religions.
The positive values in the tradition of worshipping ancestors and honoring those who have made great contributions to the nation and the people should be maintained and developed. Discrimination in treatment of citizens on the grounds belief or religion is prohibited. Simultaneously, it is prohibited to take advantage of belief or religion to engage in superstitious activities, in activities that are illegal or contrary to national policy, or in activities that encourage dissidence among the people or between ethnic groups or that disturb puplic order or encroach upon national security.
Religious affairs are the responsibility of the entire political system. They are related to many spheres of the society, to many levels of the administration and different branches of activity given the fact that the spiritual and material life of tens of millions of followers, religious leaders, and members of religious orders reach across all regions, and localities across the country.
Each follower has the right to practice religion at home within the family and at legitimate places of worship as stipulated by the law. Religious organization officially recognized by the State are entitled to conduct lawful activities and are protected by the law. These activities include: Opening schools to train religious leaders and members of religious communities; publishing religious documents and books; and maintaining, repairing, and building places of religious worship in accordance with legal regulations. Those engaged in religious evangelization, along with every other religious activity, must abide by the Constitution and the law; it is forbidden to use the cover of religion to promote obscurantist sects or superstition, and it is forbidden to force people to follow a religion or to abandon a religion.
Documents from the Xth National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam affirm: “Followers of different religions are an integral part of Vietnam’s great national unity. The Party consistently implements policies of respect and guarantees the people’s right to freedom of belief, the right of citizens to follow or not to follow a religion, and the right to take part in normal religious activities according to the law. The Party promotes unity of followers from different religions and the unity of followers of religion with non-followers. It encourages development of cultural values and strong ethics of religions and encourages religious followers and religious leaders to live "For better secular and religious life...". Lawful religious organizations must abide by the law and are protected by the law. Constructive programs in socio-economic development should be implemented to improve the material and cultural lives of religious followers; training and upgrading of cadre dealing with religious affairs should be enhanced; superstitious activities and behaviors that take advantage of belief and religion in order to harm the common welfare of the country or to violate the citizens’ freedom of religion should be prevented”6.
3. The State of Vietnam Consistently Guarantees and Respects its Citizens’ Right to Freedom of Belief and Religion
3.1. State Policies in Basic Laws Related to Belief and Religion
The August Revolution achieved success in 1945. In 1946, the first Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam affirmed The right to freedom of belief as one of five major citizen rights (These rights appear in Article 10, Chapter II, “Fundamental Rights and Obligations of Citizens", and are defined as "the right of freedom to discuss, freedom to publish, freedom to organize and assemble, the freedom of belief, and the freedom to travel inside and outside the country"). The 1946 Constitution created a legal foundation for implementing policies on religion through this article declaring respect for the citizens’ right to freedom of belief.
On 31 December 1959, the National Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam approved the 1959 Constitution with this clear statement in Article 26 of Chapter III, “Fundamental Rights and Obligations of Citizens”: “Citizens of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam have the right to freedom of belief and to follow or not to follow a religion". Building on the 1959 Constitution, the 1980 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam added to the previous text with Article 68, Chapter V, “Fundamental Rights and Obligations of Citizens". This article noted: “Citizens have the right to freedom of belief and to follow or not to follow any religion. No one is allowed to take advantage of religion in order to act against the laws and policies of the State".
After the Party’s resolutions regarding religious affairs in the context of the Reform and Renewal, the State’s legal documents and procedures institutionalized new thinking in terms of religion. Most important of all is the 1992 Constitution, which built on the Constitutions from 1946, 1959, and 1980 to implement the State of Vietnam’s Renewal thinking regarding religion. The 1992 Constitution affirms in Article 70 of Chapter V, (Fundamental Rights and Obligations of Citizens): “Citizens have the right to freedom of belief and religion, to follow or not to follow any religion. All religions are equal before the law. Places of worship belonging to beliefs and religions are protected by the law. No one is allowed to encroach on the freedom of belief and religion or to take advantage of belief or religion in order to abuse the laws and policies of the State".
3.2. Provisions in Former Normative Legal Documents Regarding Belief-related and Religious Activities
In addition to affirming its fundamental principles about religion in the Constitution, the State of Vietnam institutionalized the right to freedom of belief and religion in legal documents and procedures guiding and governing religious affairs. On 14 June 1955, President Hồ Chí Minh signed and promulgated Order No. 234/SL, “Order of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam regarding Religion". Its first chapter, “Guarantee of the Right to Freedom of Belief", stated:
- “The Government guarantees the right to freedom of belief and freedom to worship of its citizens. No one is permitted to violate this right. Each Vietnamese has the right to follow or not to follow any religion.
Members of religious orders have the freedom to preach at religious establishments (such as churches, pagodas, monasteries, religious schools, etc.).
When preaching and disseminating religion, leaders of religious communities have the duty to educate their followers in patriotism, the duties of citizens, and the importance of respecting the democratic and legal authority of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
- Members of religious orders and followers are equally entitled to each right of a citizen and must fulfill each duty of a citizen.