RELIGIOUS POLICIES—THE PRACTICES

On March 17, 1988, during a national congress of the Bureau of Religious Affairs, Nguyen Tan Dung, vice-premier in charge of the economy, defended with fervor the Party and State’s religious policy against allegations as regards   abuses of power. These allegations, according to the vice premier, created the citizen’s negative attitudes towards the government by the people and of the citizens of all faiths, and thus sowed division between the government and the people. The vice-premier placed stress on the social role that religion can play in Vietnam. The practices of religious instruction, for instance, could contribute to the elimination of numerous social illnesses that were ravaging the country. Contrarily to what certain press agencies maintained, emphasis on the positive character of religion is not new. The vice premier quoted Bishop Nguyen Minh Nat’s statement, as saying, “Religion is not an epiphenomenon. It is the reality of everyday existence,” and thus it has to be taken into consideration. 

In Retrospection

Throughout its history in power, the Communist regime ever promises to guarantee the rights to regligious freedom of the Vietnamese people. The During the People’s Congress on August 17, 1945 held in wake of the uprisings, the Viet Minh called with insistence upon all the people throughout the country and all revolutionary organizations to rise up and unite in the struggle for “the rights to which the people are entitled.” These rights include “civic rights: universal suffrage; democratic freedoms, freedom of creed, freedom of opinion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of movement, and equal rights for the nationalities and equal rights for men and women.”

The Coalition Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh guaranteed these rights. Article 10 of the 1946 Constitution specifies that “All Vietnamese citizens are entitled to the righto freedom of speech, of the press, freedom of publication, freedom of association and assembly, freedom of creed, freedom of residence, of movement in the Vietnamese territory and in foreign countries.”

Religious persecution, nevertheless, intensified immediately after “the August Revolution.” It even became increasingly atrocious thereafter. Records of incidents of religious persecution were voluminous. The following list is far from complete. Sporadic executions of religious dignitaries began to take place when the “Revolution” was in full swing. The Venerable Duc Hai was executed at Thanh Sam Village, Ung Hoa District, Ha Dong Province, on charge of betrayal against the country on August 19, 1945. The Venerable Dai Hai of Phap Van Pagoda, Bac Ninh Province, was arrested on charge of being a member of a national party.  Executions of religious leaders spread elsewhere in the country. On September 8, 1945, the Viet Minh in Can Tho executed three prominent leaders of Hoa Hao Buddhism --Huynh Thanh Mau, the brother of the founder of the faith Huynh Phu So, Tran Van Trung, and Pham Xuan Thieu following a peaceful demonstration of Hoa Hao faithful expressing support for the leaders of the national independence front in Saigon.

Executions of innocent Cao Dai in the Center and the South were most tragic. Ten thousand Cao Dai followers were reportedly executed following the “August Revolution.” in Quang Ngai Province, Central Vietnam. As many as four thousand victims were killed because of refusal to renounce their faith at Tra Khuc River in Tu Nghia District. Hundreds of others were buried alive in collective graves along the bank of Ve River. Witnesses also reported that about six thousand (6,000) members of the Church were murdered in the Cu Chi and Trang Bang areas, Tay Ninh Province, South Vietnam. Collective graves with thousands of remains were found in these areas. Still, a list of one thousand two hundred seventy-three martyrs was on file at the Holy See.  Massacre marked another incident. In June 1946, having failed to seize Tay Ninh Holy See by force, local Viet Minh militia, during their retreat to their safety zone, burned down buildings and houses of 50 villages along the roads in the Long Thanh area. An uncounted number of innocent Cao Dai followers were killed.

The situation in the North was much more intricate. In December 1945, facing the invasion of the French troops into North Vietnam, Ho Chi Mimh wooed political and religious leaders to unite in a front to fight against the invaders. On March 21, 1946, Ho Chi Minh signed a modus vivendi owing to which he became the legitimate leader of Vietnam. Without dignity, he made a volte face, flatly eliminating political and religious leaders and organizations. On May 27, 1946, Viet Minh troops and police began to execute campaigns of eradication against political leaders and religious dignitaries. The Roman Catholic Church suffered utter tragedy following harsh survival under the Japanese occupation. After the coup d’états of March 9, 1945, the clergy of French nationality faced stiff suppression. Priests and dignitaries were sent to and imprisoned in concentration camps, being suspected of collaboration with the French administration. Fr. Delaine Tan, the director of Vinh Grand Seminary, as a case in point, was arrested and died three days under surveillance. Intolerance against Catholicism was on the rise during and after the uprisings of August 1945. Bishops were regarded as spies for the French, and the followers, French henchmen. In Hanoi, French missionaries were regrouped and sent to concentration camps. Rumors had it that French henchmen spread poison into wells to kill innocent people, particularly, non-Catholics. Animosity between Catholics and non-Catholics dug in deeper. Political hatred against the Church was self-evident. Priests and seminarians in Thanh Hoa joined with great enthusiasm and patriotic fervor in meetings and demonstrations supporting “the Revolution,” on September 23, 1945, but received little sympathy. Persecution coincidentally began. The Congregation of Sisters of the Cross was dissolved. The seminary at Ba Lang was razed to the ground. Seminarians and novices were sent home. Chaos pervaded. Fr. Can, the pastor at Chan Lao Parish, was killed at Hoi Xuan on June 10, 1946. Fr. Chu Thao Tien was killed at Phuong Soai on July 1, 1946. Fr. Mai Ba Nhan was abducted, imprisoned, and died at Cam Thuy concentration camp. 

  

In Hanoi parishes, all associations of the Church were dissolved, and all its educational and charitable establishments were forced to shut down. Foreign bishops and missionaries were regrouped in separate concentration camps. On October 23, the bishop of Hanoi expressed anxiety over the situation. Ho Chi Minh promised to take the matter into consideration, but never came up with a solution. Thai Ha Parish, in particular, suffered tragic physical loss. Viet Minh armed militia attacked and destroyed the main office building of the local Order of Redemptorists and sent all the priests and seminarians in residence out of the area.

On December 19, 1946, the Indochina War broke out. The Viet Minh government retreated to the safety zone in the mountains. Vietnam suffered to destruction from both the French invaders and the communist Viet Minh. The French troops erased all worship buildings which they thought would serve as posts for resistance by the Viet Minh. The Viet Minh believed these large physical structures would serve as strongholds for military use by the French. Cathedrals, communal houses, and temples on the enemy march were destroyed following the Viet Minh’s scorched earth tactics. Worse still, religious worship fell into decadence after the war. The worship of Titular Genii at communal houses was undermined by the hostile unwritten religious policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Religion was no exception. Religious faith is deemed to be a vestige of imperialism and feudalism.

All religions, in truth, endured lasting hostility.  The Venerable Tue Quang and the Venerable Thich Tue Chieu, members of the Religious Interfaith of Vietnam were arrested and executed in 1947. On April 16, 1947, the founder of Hoa Hao Buddhism was trapped in an ambush, abducted, and killed. The massacre of innocent Hoa Hao believers raised panic. Tens of thousands members of the Church were abducted and killed. Along the boundaries of Phu Thuan and Long Thanh villages were found three collective graves. Victims were reportedly stabbed, hand-tied and eye-folded, and then dumped into ditches. Equally frightful was the massacre of eleven thousand members of Hoa Hao at Tay An Co Tu (Tay An Old Temple) on April 16, 1947.  

Persecution in Phat Diem Diocese was tragic. From the end of 1946 to the beginning of 1947, local communists in Phat Diem Diocese arrested about five thousand (5,000) people including Catholic priests and followers “for lack of spirit of resistance’ and for “being reactionary.” On January 25, 1946, Ho Chi Minh paid a visit to Phat Diem, met with Bishop Le Huu Tu, and asked the dignitary to be Supreme Advisor to the Coalition Government. In the beginning of 1947, Viet Minh armed forces laid siege to Phat Diem. The diocese was isolated from the rest of the country after a 5-day congress by the Viet Minh at Trinh Dong Village Nho Quan District, Ninh Binh Province. The Chau Son Order of which Bishop Le Huu Tu was a member was attributed to as a network of espionage for the French was subject to dissolution. In the wake of the end of the war, Viet Minh troops stormed into Phat Diem and Bui Chu dioceses, devastating the last resistance strongholds. Bloody persecution pervaded. Along with the with the pursuit of French armed forces withdrawing from Ninh Binh, Nam Dinh and Phu after the defeat of Diem Bien Phu, Viet Minh troops attacked Catholic villages on either side of the Route I. Cathedrals and chapels were destroyed, priests and followers were massacred. Witnesses saw dead bodies in waves floating from Tra Chinh River to the Kim Doi sea-mouth. Hundreds of thousand Catholics in the Red River delta moved south for fear of bloodbath.