While the Constitution of Vietnam officially provides for freedom of religion, in practice the government imposes a range of legislative measures restricting religious practice (such as registration requirements, control boards, and surveillance). All religious groups must register and seek approval from the government. The government requires all Buddhist monks to be approved by and work under the officially recognized Buddhist organization, the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS). The number of Buddhist student monks is controlled and limited by the Committee on Religious Affairs. According to a 2020 report by Human Rights Watch, prohibited religious activities are those deemed to be contrary to arbitrary notions of the "national interest", "public order", or "national unity". Unrecognized religious groups, including Cao Đài, Hòa Hảo, and some Christian and Buddhist groups face "constant surveillance and harassment". Some religious groups may be subject to "public criticism, forced renunciation of faith, detention, interrogation, torture, and imprisonment." Laws continue to be applied unevenly however, with some local government areas taking a more relaxed and tolerant approach than others.
In 2023, the country was scored 1 out of 4 for religious freedom by the American organization Freedom House.Freedom House website, retrieved 2023-08-08 In the same year it was ranked as the 25th most difficult place in the world to be a Christian by Christian mission Open Doors.
Background
Mahayana Buddhism is the largest organized religion in Vietnam. There is a significant minority of Catholic Christians. Other religions include Protestant Christianity, Theravada Buddhism, Islam, Hòa Hảo, and the syncretic Cao Đài religion. Many citizens consider themselves non-religious, although they may practice traditional beliefs such as veneration of ancestors and national heroes. Ethnic minorities historically practice different traditional beliefs than those of the ethnic majority Việt. Many ethnic minorities, particularly among the H'mong, Zao, and Jarai groups in the Northwest and Central Highlands, have converted to Protestantism.
Undeclared missionaries from several countries are active in the country. Foreign missionaries legally are allowed to proselytize or perform religious activities.
There are no religious national holidays.
History During the Vietnam War, the US backed a Catholic politician named Ngô Đình Diệm for his leadership of South Vietnam. The US assumed that Diem would protect freedom of religion in South Vietnam, due to his deep faith, but instead he used his power to suppress Buddhism (which was the majority religion of South Vietnam) and promote Catholicism.Farr, Thomas F., et al. "Religious liberties: the International Religious Freedom Act." Houston Journal of International Law 31.3 (2009) The South Vietnamese government banned the flying of the Buddhist flag, leading to shooting of nine Buddhist civilians in 1963, culminating in the Buddhist crisis.
After the Fall of Saigon in 1975, North and South Vietnam were merged to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1976. The Constitution of Vietnam was adopted in the south of the country. The Communist Party of Vietnam promoted their Marxist–Leninist ideology in the country.
The Communists were influenced by anti-colonial and nationalist traditions in Vietnam, including the writings of Phan Bội Châu."Nationalism and Religion in Vietnam: Phan Boi Chau and the Catholic Question". Mark W. McLeod. The International History Review, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Nov., 1992), pp. 661-680 During the First Indochina War (1946–1954), despite its doctrinal atheism, the Indochinese Communist Party made efforts at recruiting religious believers to its side. The Catholic minority, while being obviously linked to the French presence, were seen as potential allies rather than ipso facto opponents, provided they could be recruited to the anti-colonial side. Catholic missionaries were condemned in party propaganda, but Vietnamese Catholics were called upon as compatriots to embrace nationalism. Anti-Catholic criticism was thereby focused on French Catholic clerics as a foreign element and avoided doctrinal criticism of the beliefs of the church. In an effort to reach out to Vietnamese Catholics, Ho Chi Minh attended Christmas Mass in 1945 and included Catholics in his cabinet.
The Communist Party in the North from 1954 and from the South from 1975, attacked many traditional religious practices and folk beliefs.Taylor, Philip. "The goddess, the ethnologist, the folklorist and the cadre: situating exegesis of Vietnam's folk religion in time and place (1)." The Australian Journal of Anthropology 14.3 (2003) The spirit worship of common people was interpreted from the Marxist perspective as being a survival from an earlier stage of social evolution when people deified nature in their inability to overcome or control it. These beliefs were considered illusory and that they made people 'impotent' and fatalistic. These beliefs were considered to undermine people's confidence and did not encourage them to believe people could solve their own problems. The spirit worship was considered by the communists as a tool of 'feudal' elites to maintain their oppressive rule. Lady Liễu Hạnh, a goddess worshipped in Vietnamese folk religion was also considered an importation from Chinese taoism and therefore a legacy of Chinese colonialism.
After the Communists won the war and reunified Vietnam, the government in Hanoi turned to suppress religion with great force. Many Buddhists had been opposed to the war and when the Communists achieved victory, the anti-war efforts by Vietnamese Buddhists were marginalized by the government. The Buddhist peace activist Cao Ngoc Phuong (who had been previously jailed by the Saigon government) was branded a ‘war criminal’ by the Hanoi regime.Topmiller, Robert. "Struggling for peace: South Vietnamese Buddhist women and resistance to the Vietnam War." Journal of Women's History 17.3 (2005)
Buddhist self-immolations, like the kind that had occurred in South Vietnam against the government in Saigon, soon occurred in the unified Vietnam in protest of the government's treatment of Buddhism. In November 1975, 12 Buddhist monks and nuns immolated themselves in Cần Thơ. In 1977, Thich Nu Nhu Hien burned herself in Hanoi in order to be a ‘torch of wisdom’ that would bring the government to embrace religious tolerance. Many of the Buddhists who burned themselves in protest of the Communist government belonged to the United Buddhist Church of Vietnam, which was banned by Hanoi afterwards.
Many Vietnamese held greater respect for the Buddhist hierarchy than for the communist government, and many people in opposition to the government saw Buddhism as an alternative to Marxism. Government opposition has portrayed Marxism as being a foreign western ideology, while Buddhism was linked to the indigenous heritage of Vietnam.
The Đổi Mới policy of 1986 changed the Vietnamese government's position on outside influence in the country.
This article is informed by the US State Dept 2007 report on religious freedom in Vietnam. Later reports are available.US State Dept 2022 report
Status of religious freedom Legal and policy framework The Constitution, legal code, and a 2003 Communist Party Central Committee resolution on religion provide for freedom of belief and worship, as well as nonbelief; however, the government required the registration of all activities by religious groups and used this requirement to restrict activities in certain cases. The government continued to significantly limit the organized activities of independent religious groups and those individuals who were regarded as a threat to party authority.
The New Ordinance on Religion and Belief, which came into effect in November 2004, serves as the primary document governing religious practice. It reiterates citizens' rights to freedom of belief, freedom of religion, and freedom not to follow a religion, and it states that violations of these freedoms are prohibited. However, it advises that "abuse" of freedom of belief or religion "to undermine the country's peace, independence, and unity" is illegal and warns that religious activities must be suspended if they negatively affect the cultural traditions of the nation.
The Ordinance continues the practice of government control and oversight of religious organizations. Under its provisions, religious denominations must be officially recognized or registered, and the activities and leadership of individual religious congregations must be approved by the appropriate lower-level authorities. The establishment of seminaries and the organization of and enrollment in classes must also be approved by appropriate authorities. The naming of priests or other religious officials requires the approval of authorities only when a "foreign element", such as the Vatican, is involved. The ordinance also relaxes government oversight of religion to some extent. For example, religious organizations are required only to inform appropriate authorities of their annual activities or the investiture and transfer of clerics, while in the past this required explicit official approval. The ordinance encourages religious groups to carry out charitable activities in health care and education, which were limited in the past.
In February 2005 the Prime Minister issued the "Instruction on Some Tasks Regarding Protestantism", which calls on authorities to facilitate the requests of recognized Protestant denominations to construct churches and to train and appoint pastors. The instruction directs authorities to help unrecognized denominations register their congregations so that they can worship openly and move towards fulfilling the criteria required for full recognition. It directs authorities in the Central and Northwest Highlands to help groups of Protestant believers register their religious activities and practice in homes or "suitable locations", even if they do not meet the criteria to establish an official congregation. The instruction also directs local officials to allow unregistered "house churches" to operate so long as they are "committed to follow regulations" and are not affiliated with separatist political movements.
In March 2005 the government issued an implementing decree (Decree 22) that provided further guidance on the Ordinance on Religion and Belief. Like the ordinance, the decree explicitly bans forced renunciations of faith. It also delineates specific procedures by which an unrecognized religious organization can register its places of worship, its clerics, and its activities and thus operate openly. It further provides procedures for these groups to apply for official recognition from the government to gain additional rights. The decree specifies that a religious organization must have 20 years of "stable religious operation" in the country in order to be recognized by the government. It also states that past operation in the country can be counted toward this requirement. The decree further sets out specific time periods for the government to consider requests from religious organizations and requires officials to give organizations an explanation in writing for any application that is rejected.