RELIGIOUS POLICY—THE PRACTICES (V)

    Religious Policy-The Practices

    By Van Nguyen




Contrarily to the political report of the Eighth Congress which abstained from expressing on this issue, the draft of the report of the Ninth Congress of the Communist Party that appeared in January 2001 had taken on the old habit consisting in exposing the political line of the Party in the matter of religion within the framework of the chapter concerning the "union of the whole people." After the confirmation sprung from a recent evolution of religious doctrine of the Party, it is known that beliefs and religions constitute the spiritual need of the great part of the people, it is affirmed that the religious politics of the Party  remained  unchanged, guaranteeing equality of all citizens, the freedom to adhere or not to a religion. Them it is absolutely prohibited to utilize religious beliefs of the religion “to oppose to the law and politics of the State." That last injunction has been a little modified in the definitive version adopted at the time of the Ninth Congress (April 19-22, 2001), conditional on the troubles that happened in the Central Highlands at the beginning of February 2001. The clause became “it is absolutely forbidden to abuse the questions of ethnic minorities, beliefs, and religions to undertake activities to oppose to the law and politics of the State, cause division of the people and separation of the ethnic minorities."

Remarks by Cardinal Pham Minh Man

    The text by Cardinal Pham Minh Man explained the concept of moral person more explicit in his communiqué of January 11, 2001, as follows:

      1- The activities of the Church could not be subject to regulations; only could religious people and organizations conduct these activities. Therefore, the prescriptions of the law must concern, first, religious organizations, then, religious activities only. If one wants to issue prescriptions concerning religious activities, one must take into account those rules that are characteristic of religious organizations. For the religion, it is of little importance whether or not there exists the presence of prescriptions and laws. In any manner, it continues to exist, conforming itself to the rules proper to religion, no matter how one could issue prescriptions to one’s own will. Otherwise, one will create conflicts considered as persecution.

       2. One could not ignore the character of moral person that religious organizations possess in social relations. A religious organization is a legal entity. If the law can clarify the rights and duties of different legal entities, it is likely to avoid litigation --legal disputes-- between them when in operation.    

 

     3. It is necessary to clarify the fundamental principles such as the following:

    a. All people whether they belong to or do not belong to a religious organization are equal before the law.

    b. The State creates favorable conditions so that all people and all social and religious organizations could exercise their rights to liberty.

    c. The State does not intervene in the internal affairs of religious organizations so long as their religious activities do not cause dissent, insecurity, and disorder in the society.

    d. Religious liberty like all other liberties of the person is a right, and this right does not accommodate itself to a “function system” whereby applying for authorization and granting authorization is executed.

       

      4. For the people, in a general manner, the two concepts of gestation and private property reveal entirely different significations. If the law authorizes the administrator to deprive the material or spiritual properties of the proprietors, to occupy them, or usurp them, it then becomes an instrument of injustice. Among the material properties, there are houses and certain diverse resources. Spiritual properties belong to the rights of ownership of man inscribed in the constitution, written or not written, opening way to abuse of power and accumulation of injustices by the bureaucracy. To establish a law of this type and put it into practice would contradict what is stipulated in the maxim: “for the people.” That would be equally contrary to the politics that considers the service and life and the dignity of man as the ultimate objective of the regime and the State, a machinery system for the service of the people. The inevitable consequences of an attitude that is contrary to these principles would be conducive to the sabotage of social order and peace and loss of hope in the future that would transform itself into opportunism and go astray into an impasse, the progressive disintegration of life and augmentation of criminality Executed at Ho Chi Minh City on January 16, 2001Mgsr. Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City For the Bishops of the Archdiocese  

Remarks by the Consultative Council of Religions

  

      The report on the debates of the Consultative Council of Religions showed deep concerns on the religious situation in Vietnam. Nevertheless, it diffused through electronic media without signal. The report was the result of an assembly that took place in Hanoi on March 9, 2002.  It was the first time that the existence of such a council was mentioned and that a consultative report of this type was communicated to the public.

      The Socialist Republic of Vietnam

      The Central Committee of the Fatherland Front of Vietnam

     The Consultative Council of Religions   

     Independence-Liberty- Happiness

 

     Hanoi, March 18, 2002

   

       To the Members of the Consultative Council of Religions,

      On March 9, 2002, the Consultative Council assembled in a plenary session in Hanoi with the participation of the members of the Council, several comrades of the Permanent Bureau of the President of the Central Committee of the Fatherland Front of Vietnam, Bureau of Religious Affairs, and representatives of the Direction of diverse services.

      Comrade Pham The Duyet, Chief of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Fatherland Front of Vietnam and Professor Dang Nghiem Van, President of the Consultative Council of Religions, after having formulated a general appreciation of the works carried out in 2001 and those coordinated in the year 2002, the members of the council, carried on their debates and exchanges of opinions on the principal proposals presented in the circular No.04/HDTVTG of January 25, 2002.

     The presidency of the council allows itself to regroup the opinions of the members around the following headings:

    1. The problem of land and establishments of cult of the religions

       The opinions expressed during the debate of the assembly sent to the Permanent Bureau of the Consultative Council are established in conformity with the principles of orientation suggested by the presidency of the council, namely:

       - The settlement of the questions concerning land and establishments of cult, in the first place, must aim to perform the services to the interests of the people. It must be conformed to the concrete conditions and situation of the country as well as characteristics of the religion.

       - It is not the question of requiring that the land and establishments of cult that have been offered to the State or a collective group be rendered to the original owner under one or any other forms. However, a problem still remains: the State or collective group must utilize them in conformity with the primary objective for the activities of social service such as opening schools and building medical or cultural establishments. They must not let the opportunists occupy, share, and sell them.

       - As far as land is concerned, the establishment of cult that the organs of the State or a collective group has borrowed (for a short or long term) of which the population took possession, the question of restoration of these establishments must be raised if the religions need to utilize them.

       - The restitution will take a form appropriate to the concrete situation of each case. But, each time, there will be a unique rule: the property will be restored in its original state if it has been exchanged, or bought.

       The representatives present at the assembly their thought according to which it is necessary to create a council composed of the elements of competent organs of the government, the Fatherland Front, the collectivity, and the local religious organizations.  These components will discuss and, in the spirit of concord, will agree on the forms or rules conditional on concrete cases.

       Besides, they recommended:

        - When it is a matter of settlement concerning the questions of land or establishments of cult that have been offered, the State must take into account the concrete circumstances. It is necessary to determine who made the offertory and made it legally, if he possessed the legal statute of representative as determined by the religious organization. Thus, a priest of a parish is only a manager of the religious establishment; he is not in no capacity to offer the establishment. Only the bishops have this competence.

     - It should be a question if the offer by an individual or an organism has been freely carried out or not? Has there been pressure or constraint?

     2. Education and Humanitarian Work

   . Assumed role of religions in the domains of education, health, and social works The opinions of the scientists and religious dignitaries of the Consultative Council were accorded: the State and the Party advocate socialization encourage organisms and individuals to offer the State their cooperation in the domains of education, health, culture, social works. The Party and State also consider the religions as members of the society, equal with the others. There is no reason, then, to limit the participation of religions in the socialization in these domains. The State, thus, has to promulgate concrete political lines and laws susceptible to favor the internal forces, create favorable conditions so that religious organizations and religious personalities could contribute to the opening of schools not only at the "maternal"  and "kindergarten" levels as is the case today but also at elementary, secondary, professional, and university levels.  In a parallel way, the religions will be treated on an equal footing with other members of the society in other domains such as sports, entertainment, medicine, public health care. ..

       The members of the Consultative Council (including seven religious dignitaries) agree by common consent on a principle: in their participation in the activities concerning these diverse domains, religious organizations and religious personalities must engage themselves in respecting the regulations fixed by the competent organs of the State such as the Ministry of Education and Information, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Works, Ministry of Construction concerning internal activities, programs, local schools and teachers, type of construction, and so on. Besides, religious organizations and religious personalities, in any form, must not propagate the religion or the policy in contravention of the Constitution and the law at educational, health, cultural, events. The ministries and services concerned will have to orient their activities with regulations and sanctions. The right to mastership of our religious fellow countrymen will thus be stimulated in their participation in the defense and building of the fatherland, and harmonization of the sacred and the secular. It should be guaranteed that the necessary management and orientation of religious activities will be accomplished in conformity with the political directives and the law.

      

     3. Formation of Ecclesiastics and the Religious

     The members of the Consultative Council think that the work of formation is very important. It aims at forming members of the clergy and religious of diverse religions endowed with sufficient qualities and knowledge, enlivened with national spirit to serve religion and the fatherland and devoted themselves to the religious activities of our religious fellow countrymen.

      Many representatives proposed that the organs of the State, the Fatherland Front orient and control permanently the organization of educational establishments, their interior life, their programs of studies, the teaching staff attached to the houses of formation. It is necessary to pay more heed to the content of teaching in matters of culture, national history, political lines of the Party and State, and thus the national spirit and the civic conscience of future ecclesiastics could be elevated. In addition, the State should have a more open-minded attitude when it is a question of authorizing the religious to open schools of houses of formation of the clergy, to avoid the phenomenon of "clandestine" religious formation and ordination motivated by extremely urgent needs. Besides, it is stressed that the clergy endowed with good quality be cultivated, the religion will then be purer, and the believers will not fall into superstition.

      4. The Subject of Religious Associations

       The point, the members of the Consultative Council have issued diverging ideas. Three categories of opinions are classified into categories as follows:     

       - According to the first category, the State must not maintain doubts or pose problems concerning the nature of religious associations that they are actually suffering. It has to consider their activities as ordinary activities taking place in a habitual setting and accept them with a spirit of respect for freedom of religious belief. The religions only need to have their activities registered with the local authorities, to submit to their own directional principles and orientations with the responsibility of their chief. They don't have then need to solicit the authorization of the power.

     - For the second category of opinions, the nature of each association should be distinguished. For the purely religious associations, such activities as funeral rites, music bands, and festival processions will have no need to be registered. The associations of social character, those that reassemble a congregation (Eucharist Crusade, Third Order, etc.,) have no need to be registered. It is necessary to have the interior regulations registered, such as the appellation of the association, the directional principles and orientation of the association with the direction and general orientation of the Fatherland Front and social agencies.

      - A third category of opinions support the argument that it is not necessary to determine the nature of a religious association. The association needs the approval of the government to conduct activities. The government examines the interior regulations, directional principles, objectives, and the appellation of the organization if all that appears are clear to it, it accords authorization. The activities of the organization could be placed under the orientation of the Fatherland Front and social instances.

      - From the attitude to adopt strict measures against the "new religious phenomenon" also called “foreign religions," "paste religions," or still “new sects"

       To this proposal, there exist two types of opinions:

   - The great majority of ecclesiastics of diverse religions have issued this opinion:  The State must control and absolutely counteract the activities of new religious phenomena, that they have their origin in the interior or exterior of the country in such a way that traditional religions as well as public order be protected. The traditional religions will mobilize their faithful in order that they would not be attracted by these new religious phenomena.

       - For others, the new religious phenomena could be classified into two categories, positive and negative. Most of them belong to the second category. The State must, then, weigh the pros and cons give concrete judgment for each case and avoid errors.

      5. How to guarantee a purely religious life

      All members of the council were unanimous in their consideration that it is necessary for religious activities be characterized with honesty. As they declared themselves to resolutely eliminate such negative phenomena as superstition, backward customs, utilization of religion for economic and political ends. If not realized, will these phenomena have, in effect, a decreasing influence on the credibility of religion, society, and country?

      The attitude to be adopted with regard to these phenomena has been described. The authorities, the Fatherland Front in association with the Churches will sanction in opportune time and according to the seriousness of violation of the religious or civil laws. Besides, it is necessary to exhibit and diffuse extensively and intensively on the national media the examples of good harmony between the secular and the sacred by the clergy or by the faithful of diverse religions.

     One ecclesiastic present at the assembly proposed that the television channel V introduces in one of its emissions "The Contemporaries" or "Reserved to the Admirers” the examples of patriotism of authentic religions. Thus, the masses will be mobilized and members of all religions will be encouraged to follow them.

     Other ecclesiastics suggested that the State should, by its orientations, encourage the religions to limit the exaggerated expenses led by the triumphant spirit of rivalry, such as the construction of churches, pagodas, or temples, organizations of excessively solemn festivals, exhausting seriously the physical forces and financial resources of the faithful. Still, others some even opposed to measures to reexamine the modalities of the quest or collections to assure that the contributions of the masses faithful be voluntary and in conformity with good manners and civilization. 

       6.  Diverse opinions

      

       In addition to the ten subjects that are the object of debate of the members of the Consultative Council, concrete problems were raised: proposals concerning the changes of the internal structures, methods, budget, and credits were discussed so that the Council could function more efficaciously.

     A Special Case: Caodaism      

The superior dignitary Tran Duc Tang of Caodaism, after having summarily presented the actual situation of the nine branches of Caodaism, each having a statute of moral person, proposed that the Fatherland Front at the provincial as well as national levels attend to organizing sessions of studies. Political lines of the Party, legislation of State as well as the maneuvers of the enemies from abroad consisting in utilizing religion for their profit should be taught to the dignitaries of diverse branches of Caodaism. He also proposed that the Fatherland Front intervenes besides the People's Councils of certain provinces and cities of the South that Caodaists be authorized to build and restore the establishments of cult destroyed or engulfed in the war.

      

       The Buddhist Church: The Venerable Thich Thong Buu (of the circle of Thich Quang Duc, Ho Chi Minh City) and many others of his fellow monks asked the Fatherland Front to send a directive signaling the presence of the members of the Consultative Council of religious to the Peoples' councils of the provinces and cities where they live so that the Fatherland Front could establish relations and create necessary conditions so that they could operate activities without misunderstanding. This opinion was approved and a directive will soon be sent to the provincial and urban councils.

  

        Hoa Hao: Thai Van Nam, the Vice-president of the Representative Committee of Hoa Hao Buddhism proposed  to the State to accord Hoa Hao Buddhism a create a religious flag and a statute of religious organization for Church like other religions in order to avoid ill-intentioned people to deform the religious policy of the Party. The representative of Hoa Hao also proposed to the Front to intervene besides the State so that the conditions for the opening of classes of formation of dignitaries in charge of religious matter are created.

       Catholicism: Fr. Thien Cam, a member of the Committee of Union of Catholicism at Ho Chi Minh City believes that the State should put into practice a concrete policy to help religious organizations to refit themselves the material damages at the time of restitution of religious establishments occupied by the organisms or individuals, the damages not caused by them. When the State undertakes the works of infrastructure for which the establishment of cult (churches or pagodas) in residential quarters, it also has to create necessary conditions in the matter of land and credits so that the religions could rebuild new establishments of cult in the same commune or residential quarters. In effect, the actual cultural establishments are linked to the commune communities and quarters and could not be separated from one another. The priest also asks the popular Front to intervene besides the government in order that it will authorize the Catholic congregations the inter-congregation houses of studies to form the religious because the congregations have a mode of religious life different from that of the grand seminaries. Nowadays, the majority of religious are still not able to operate on a regular basis. Their religious, political and civic standards remain limited. The Director of Religious Affairs of the government has promised for many years to settle this problem but has never made it.

     

     The concrete opinions by the participants will be transmitted by the Council to competent organs. This is the synthesis of the content of the debate of the Consultative Council of Religions in its plenary session at the beginning of 2002. The diverse opinions were presented to the Permanent Bureau of the Presidium of Central Committee of the Fatherland Front. The presidency of the Council informs this to the participants, hoping that they will bring in it the complements with which it will inform the Permanent Bureau.

  

     We would like to ask you to send your complementary contributions to the following address: Mr. Dinh Van Lanh, Permanent Member of the Consultative Council of Religions, 46 Trang Thi, Hanoi; Tel: 048 246 252

      

                              For the Consultative Council of Religions

                                         Signature: Prof. Dang Nghiem Van