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

RELIGIOUS POLICY – THE PRACTICES (V) (Continued)

ReliigiousPolicy

Bt Van Nguyen




The Reaction

In general, the most significant originality of the ordinance consists in the efforts to accomplish the compilation of the project, furnishing certain specific definitions and terms for the project. The term “religion” is defined as a community of people, the “Church,” a composition of clergy, certain other persons of responsibility, and the establishments for cult. There is no mention as far as the faithful is concerned. The project shows sheer embarrassment, grouping under the same category “nha tu hanh” the clergy of different religions. The term only suggests vague appellations, implying certain devout personalities or laymen who consecrate to religious services or performances of hermits who mainly conduct religious services and performance at home. The project contains at best the elements that are already prescribed in previously-issued administrative orders and decrees. It draws comments, observations, and criticisms, mostly from members of the clergy of all faiths.           

The clergy, in general, show more concerns about the restrictions against the religions of life clergy, and laity. The impression was that they are treated as second class citizens under the tutelage of the State. They are subject to strict control, from ordination to displacement. Services and activities are performed under directions of the Party and State. While, within the framework of socialism, an individual, a group, or organization is allowed to operate an educational establishment at any levels, a Church is not. The contribution of the religions in this domain is carefully limited to maternal education. The authoritative and paternal conduct of affairs adopted by the State with regard to the religions in this domain is anything but rigorous regime of a totalitarian monarchy, and that is totally contradictory to the moral tenets characteristic of the human person, and of the cultural values of the whole Vietnamese society

The Remarks

The official press of the Communist regime still had not published the text of or the draft of the ordinance on religion. As the weekly “Catholicism and Nation” cautioned without comment priests who were in possession of the document not to disclose this possession to the press. The test should be first revised by the Permanent Committee of the National Assembly. Nevertheless, the diffusion continues to spread as it involuntarily aroused waves of criticism in the religious milieus. A chain reaction of the clergy is followed by a series of remarks of the bishops of the ecclesiastic province of Ho Chi Minh City, The well-known Redemptories Chan Tin exclaimed: “A new beaker for an old alcohol.” The Redemptories pries resented an analysis in which he stressed that, even if the dispositions in draft are more flexible than those in the Decree 26/1999/ND-CP that proceeded, they still provoke a source of violations on religious freedom and serve as an instrument of oppression against the believers of diverse religions.

Remarks by the Reverend Chan Tin

The remarks first appeared in an article on the second issue of the news review Tin Nha (Letters from Home). It summed up the context of the new governmental document on religions, relating it to the provisions in the Decree 26 April 26, 1999. It called to mind, in particular, the Letter of Opinions of the Episcopal Conference, in October 1999 according to which the prelates noted that this decree constitutes a contradiction to fact with regard to religious freedom. With firm determination, on September 5, 1990, the priest himself and other religious personalities signed for this purpose, an “Appeal for Religious Freedom.” Because of numerous ambiguous dispositions, the government might stop the application of the decree. As a result, the actual draft came in to fill the gap left by the impracticability of the decree. Nonetheless, the new draft failed in its attempt to renew the policy on religions of the government.

  

To justify his remarks, the priest enumerated elements that constitute true religious freedom. This enumeration constitutes a list of rights which the adepts of diverse religions in Vietnam have demanded for many years. As a case in evidence, Article 4 of the Constitution of Vietnam, the principal source of all violations of human rights and religious freedom, is a point in evidence. It arbitrarily declares that the Communist Party is “the leading force of the country and society.”  Obligations in all forms are required   all to obtain permission, from recollection of money for charity to ordination, nomination, and displacement of the personnel of the Church. Indications of false promises are self-evident. The draft foresees the restitution to the Church all the properties that the government has confiscated or those that the Church had to “offer” under threat, in particular, schools and hospitals. The right to open schools and conduct social work to meet the needs of the population should be rendered to the religions. That is mere hypocrisy. Errors and mistake should be rectifies, instead. Repressive measures must be spared, and just and fair conduct of affairs should be honored. It is urgent now to suppress the religion entity of the citizen on the identification card, which constitutes an unacceptable measure of discrimination. It is equally necessary to put an end to the mandatory indoctrination of Marxism-Leninism to high-school and college students. The priest remarked that, in almost all schools in the world, the obligation of the students to follow classes of catechism has been suppressed. The imposition of indoctrination of Marxism-Leninism in schools in Vietnam appears to be particularly retrograding. (A New Review in Saigon Criticizes the Draft of the Legislative Code on Religions (EDA 327)

Remarks by a Member of the Catholic Clergy in Saigon

The provisions in the draft posed serious counter-arguments among which were the reflections of a member of the Catholic Clergy of Ho Chi Minh City who asked anonymity. The text is as follows:

 The first chapters of the draft of an ordinance on religions elaborated by the Bureau of Religious Affairs were sent to the clergy for consultation so that they could express opinions on the subject. The text, dated December 25, 2000, on Christmas day, was addressed to the Episcopal Conference of Vietnam. The clergy of diverse dioceses of the country were only informed of a consultation by the time they assembled for a meeting. They were asked to send feedback on the project before January 24, 2001, the date on which the document must be submitted to the Permanent Office of National Assembly for judgment and decision. Below are the reflections of a clergy on the future ordinance.

 "Being neither an expert in the laws study nor a specialist in the compilation of legislative texts, I simply would like to express some reflections and remarks concerning the ordinance-draft on religions. My first considerations are:

      1. The draft comes into existence after successive decrees on religions, all of which are destined to guarantee the freedom of faith of the citizen,         

      2. The main objective of the draft is brought forwards to the knowledge of the interested for opinions. That is a step forwards compared with the work-process of preceding decrees. Unfortunately, the time devoted to this consultation is very short. Therefore, the consultation would not benefit the magnitude of participants who would have been allowed to bring in contributions.

My general impression of the draft is that nothing changes. The National Assembly will be able to prepare and vote for that relatively comprehensive law in appreciation of the religious circles for their contributions to the project, but what will happen after that? If the law comes into effect, it will not be carried out without effectiveness if it is as impracticable as incomprehensible? Worse still, it will be coercively applied, and carried out in an erroneous manner?

   Pitfalls

  If I consider that I am oppressed, that my liberty of faith and religion is not respected, and will I be allowed to complain? That is a question that poses itself a problem not only in the domain of religion but also in other domains in the press, in our journals, for instance. There are people who voiced complaints some ten years ago abut receiving no other things than “redoubtable silence” (the vocabulary term used by Party Secretary-general Nguyen Van Linh) from the authorities. Should we wait for the State to find the cause of these complaints until the population could provide an answer with placards in a sit-in demonstration? We resent for the unjust treatment of the State against us. We are given a statute that is quite "bizarre." There is no coherent and clear distinction between the three powers, the legislative, the executive, and the judiciary. In democratic countries, these three powers are independent from one another to guarantee impartiality of the law. This confusion of these three powers bears the negative aspects of the law, leading to dictatorship and creating injustices.

   The Liberty of Expression   

   Our rights to liberty of expression are restricted. The operation of journals is subject to the directives or control of the government. We have heard of the issuance of a common letter of the Episcopal Conference on this subject. As always, in order to be diffused, a review is bound to undergo censorship. We are thus placed in the situation where the State shoots on the ball as a player and blows the whistle as an arbiter in a soccer game. This situation entails negative aspects: the population loses confidence; those who don’t like the regime have an occasion to cry out; the religious believers feel like an object of discrimination, to be second class citizens. Those who are ready to welcome the issuance of an ordinance are few, and the praise for the objective of the draft is deemed to be superfluous.

      Discrimination and Injustice      

   It is not without foundation we speak of discrimination and the sentiment of being a second class citizen. Here are some facts:

  - Being treated as second class citizens, when going abroad, the religious and priests all face with unfavorable conditions imposed on them. They have to solicit authorization from the Office of Religious Affairs of the Fatherland Front. Why? A session of religious study is subject to prior authorization, while a session of study organized for the personnel of an enterprise is not? A session of professional study of a teaching staff of a school has to be registered? A family reunion has to be registered?

       -When people assemble “outside the limits of the establishment of cult, they have to apply for authorization. We conceive that the establishment of cult is a church, a temple, and so on. Thus, if religious activities can only take place inside a church, rites and rituals of religious services are then simplified to some acts of preceding the ceremony with only one celebrant who performs the rites of offerings to God.

     - Would it be necessary only to receive religious books by mail? Why are pontifical benedictions properties confiscated at their arrival? Do they belong to the categories of novice literature that pose questions? Certainly not, but the answer is: “This application pertains to the prescriptions of the law of the State.”

      Nomination

 The nomination and displacement of the religious personnel require approval of the competent organ of the State. Why, then?  Are they afraid that these religious people take advantage of their position to conduct illegal activities?  If this were the case, the State suffices to apply the law to punish them. Besides, there is no religious organization that makes much of a choice to make a competent person to accomplish diverse functions of a Church at a time.  The reality is:  State authorities intentionally intervene in the internal affairs of the Church, manipulate the Church personnel, and transform religious organizations into their instruments.

   

       Cultural and Humanitarian Activities

   Concerning cultural and humanitarian activities, the law regulates that “religious organizations as well as individuals can open maternal schools, boarding houses for handicapped children or orphanages in conformity with the legislation on education.” Why are they restricting educational services to maternal schools? Is it a controversy over when the State advocates socialization of education? Socialization is only materialized with the participation of all segments of the society in the educational tasks with financial means and mind and heart of all citizens. Why do the authorities restrict the participation of religious organizations while private economic and administrative organizations are allowed to open secondary schools and universities? 

      We do not intend to analyze the entirety of the draft. We only present a number of points that create problems and that foster negative sentiments and grief’s making the believers think they are only second class citizens.

        The Lack of Transparency of the Project

      In all, we think that the prescriptions provided in the text of law has to be clear; it has also to be concise to avoid what may engender obscure or arbitrary interpretations. We would like to allow ourselves to present some remarks on the fundamental principle marked Number 2 on page 1: “The religions in Vietnam conduct their activities in the framework of the constitution and legislation of the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The State guarantees the religious activities accomplished in the framework of legitimate and legal interests of the faithful. It encourages the religious activities accomplished for the Fatherland and the people. It respects and exalts cultural and moral values which it adopts to the building of the new society and religion.”

     In our opinion, the above-mentioned clause contains two parts. The first one speaks of the sphere of activities of religions in Vietnam. It is performed within the framework of the Constitution and the law. The Constitution recognizes that the citizen has a certain number of rights, among which is the right to liberty of faith and religion. The legislation defines the manner of application of that right. That is, it should be inducted in agreement with the other rights and the common good. The second part of the clause speaks of the role of the State; that is, to guarantee..., to encourage..., to respect, to give impulsion. Nevertheless, every time an element is added, not only does the role of the State become more obscure because not only does the religion appear to be an instrument in the service of the State for another objective, but also it might give room for arbitrary interpretations.

What does it really mean by “religious activities accomplished in the framework of legitimate and legal interests of the faithful?” Who has the right to interpret the legitimacy of the interests in question, the district, the commune, or the Fatherland Front? Even the State is not capable of determining which can be the legitimate interests of a believer. The State encourages “religious activities accomplished in the interests of the Fatherland and the People. What kind of activities are these? Is it the kind of activities of the Committee of Union of Patriot Catholics accomplished for the Fatherland and the People? In the old days, that committee was called Committee of Patriotic Catholics. Why did they strip off the adjective “patriotic”?

  “Elevate cultural and moral values is the motto we adopt to devote ourselves to the building of the new society and religion.” We do not understand what the editor of the text really wants to say.  If the answer is about a just and charitable society that promotes respect for the dignity of man, then, all religions and their faithful demand that they be allowed to behave just like that. Please, remember that Catholicism possesses social catechism that is extremely powerful in exalting this practice. Thus, the fundamental principle “guaranteed by the State” becomes totally confusing and engenders interpretations many of which are unacceptable. We would like, then, to allow ourselves to abridge Clause No. 2 like this: “The religions in Vietnam conduct their activities in the framework of the Constitution and legislation of the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The State guarantees religious activities.”

       Would one be afraid of such statement? The State should have the duty to guarantee whatever religious activity it may be. No, it certainly would not. They have already been vocal about the fact that the religions conduct their activities in the in the context of the Constitution and the law of the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Thus, the religions need only to lean on the Constitution and the law; the State will evaluate them on its judgments. On the contrary, if the faithful think that their liberty of faith and religion is not respected, they would be able to lay a claim. In a regime where separation of powers is respected, the liberty of expression and independence of the justice courts of justice prevail. Conflicts would be settled, and no one would claim that he is the object of opposition or discrimination. Three will be no question of whether authentic religious liberty is non-existent or no longer exists. And, that is the desire of the citizens with regard to the religion.    

RELIGIOUS POLICY—THE PRACTICES (V) (Continued)

 Rhetoric and Reality

The official daily Quan Doi Nhan Dan, on September 12, 1999, highly praised  the religious policy of the Communist Party, emphasizing that  “All people of good will and of respect for the truth could verify that the State of Vietnam has always sought and created favorable conditions for the exercise of the right to religious freedom of all citizens. It has never raised obstacle to performing religious activities. Neither has it modified this policy to subvert religious groups by forced integration into the Fatherland Front. The task required of them is they have to integrate themselves into one organization. Caution should be made to avoid misdemeanor as a certain number of discontented people ever pretend to represent the totality of certain religious groups.”

Realities nevertheless prove the reverse. The State-affiliated Buddhist Church of Vietnam, as a case in point, is created in replacement of the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church and other Buddhist organizations that existed in South Vietnam before 1975. Current State-created Hoa Hao and Cao Dai organizations are vested with full authorization to eliminate legitimate sects that operated in the South before the Communist takeover of power in April 1975 and that are loyal to the principles and tenets of faith professed by pure Caodaism and Hoa Hao Buddhism. Various independent Evangelical Churches are coerced to integrate in the State-affiliated Evangelical Churches thought processes of “normalization.” Schemes to put Catholicism under control by means of limitations on religious activities of the clergy and restrictions to religious activities of the laity are irreversibly increasing. Restrictive measures still weigh on the formation, ordination, and nomination of priests of the Catholic Church. To the distress of the faithful of all faiths, the State has never stopped creating laws to secure monopoly of power, subjecting the religions under permanent and tight control.

The Decree 26 April 24 1999/HDCP

 The decree drew debates and criticisms among religious circles in Saigon and diverse provinces. At an assembly in a highland province, a priest ironically noted that the piece of law resembles the Old Testament. Like Bible, it prescribes in it details and obligations analogous to the ones the Parisians had to observe.

Nguyen Van Ngoc, deputy-director of the Bureau of Religious Affairs, declared during an assembly of the Catholic clergy of Saigon on September 30, 1999, that the Bureau had duly put into practice the policy of “doi moi” (renovation) in the light of the resolution of Eighth Congress of the Party (1996). Revision has been made, including the regulations, namely the Decree 69, in 1991, which replaced the 277 of 1977.  The accomplishment realized by the Bureau was concretized in the Directive 37 of the Politburo made public in July 1999. The Decree 26 has been elaborated in the light of this directive. All these works are the first step of an evolution that leads to adoption of a legislative religious code to be passed by the National Assembly by 2001.

The deputy-director nevertheless failed to convince the audience. The vicar of the Saigon Main Cathedral expressed different views. Contrarily to what the deputy-director affirmed the decree, if viewed in the light of principles application as directed in the guidelines of the directive, is inadequate. The decree failed to incorporate the directives, which are destined to create services of common interests and well-being to the people. Numerous dispositions of decree are irresponsive to openness. Rather, they foster “belt-tightening” and “door-fastening.” Doubts were raised as to how a legislative code would be made responsive enough to the aspirations of the clergy and believers of all faiths.    

 The Legislative Code Project

Beginning in 2000, the State sent to diverse Churches in the country several copies of the draft of ordinance on religions prepared by the Bureau of Religious Affairs for consultation. Having examined the text, the Catholic bishops and clergy, in general, called into question certain concepts of religion and the interpretation of the role of the civil society by the Bureau in this regard. On December 23, 2000, in the first communiqué, the representative of the Vietnamese Catholic clergy, expressed views of a large on the project (EDA 326. Translation, EDA, Document 327). 

 The project was sent to the Episcopal Conference on Christmas Day, December 25, 2000. The letter included in it stressed that the elaboration of this text has been implemented for many years. The addressed is asked to furnish response before January 24, 2001. The letter was signed by Le Quang Vinh, Chief of the Committee of Elaboration of the Project on   Religions. In general, the project aroused no surprise among the religious circles. Ever since July 1998, the Politburo had promised in its directives to hierarchies of all Churches to give them opportunity to express opinions on a project for religions. The opinions on the project should be submitted to the Permanent Office of the National Assembly for judgment and decision.

During the session of discussion on January 5, 2001, the discussion among the clergy showed signs of reluctance. Certain priests even asked the assembly to stop the discussion. There are a number of drawbacks in the draft. On January 16, 2001, a communiqué was sent to the Bureau of Religious Affairs. In it, Cardinal of Hanoi Pham Dinh Tung, President of the Episcopal Conference expressed the consensus of opinions of the prelacy of the ecclesiastic province of Saigon on the project. The communiqué takes a distance as regards the details of diverse prescriptions in the draft. The text reveals in common the viewpoints of the Church.  There are a number of drawbacks. The greatest one lies in the concept according to which the draft does not conceive religion as an institution, negating the autonomy characteristic of the Church in the life of civil society. Religion is entitled to its own status, the laws, rules, and regulations that the civil authorities should respect. Disrespect to them results in social hostility, political disorder, and community crisis. Still, the absence of autonomy of religion predisposes violations of religious freedom. The mandate is prescribed in the International Covenants on the Rights of Man.  

The text invented an ironic expression that characterizes subordination, “co che xin-cho,” which literally means “the system whereby one must apply for permission so that it could be granted.”  It can also be interpreted as “the system functioning on legal procedures of applying for authorization and authorization is likely to be granted in accordance with the law” In a way, this system should only be applied to an association. The system “xin-cho,” in the view of the communist authority, is appropriate. It potentially rules out opposition and hostility as serious problems remain unsolved. The claims for the Church properties appropriated or confiscated by the State are at issue. The right to community ownership of properties of the Church constitutes another burning question. All these questions are dislocated in the context of the project. It confuses the management of private property with that of the society. Another communiqué was sent to the civil authorities. This second text calls into question, in particular, the conduct of affairs of the State as regards religious matter. The text also stresses the right to autonomy of a Church and the rules and regulations that subordinate the Churches to the State power, just like any other civil associations. Autonomy is characteristic of the Church; it is embodied in its right to self- determination of the religion. The monopoly of power of the State is like that of a person who plays at the same time the role of a player and an arbiter in a soccer game, and that is democratically inconceivable. In his letter to competent State authorities, Msgr. Nguyen Son Lam, secretary-general of the Episcopal Conference further stressed that the Church should be recognized as a "moral person." It is a social institution in itself and for itself. By virtue of this status, it acts responsibly and independently without tutelage of the State ((June 11, 2001, on the occasion of the visit to Vietnam of the Vatican delegation (EDA 323)

Report from Viet Catholic News

The Viet catholic News noted that the opinions it monitored from certain clerical circles can be grouped into categories. The first group reflecting general opinion considered the project inappropriate. The proposed text guarantees freedom of religion, but the Communist Party hangs on to monopoly of power. The second group, largely representing the clergy from Hue, thought that the clergy showed no interest in the proposed legal text. The third group including many participants at the conference of January 5, (2000) were likely to agree to boycott the text. Other general remarks were that the authorities have never taken into consideration the ideas offered. They elaborate and put into practice only concepts that are true to themselves, instead. Legislative texts compiled by communist cadres and party members should serve, first and foremost, the supremacy of communism and interest of the Communist Party.

Other Remarks

The project only comprises few new elements compared with the multitude of legal texts of this type already promulgated by the government since the foundation of the Republic Democratic of Vietnam in and before 1954. In fact, they have consistently accommodated the situation with new laws. The first decree signed in 1954 by Ho Chi Minh, followed by the Decree 277 CP by Pham Van Dong in 1977, the Decree 69 HDBT sinned by Do Muoi on March 21, 1991, then the Decree 26/1999/ND'CP by Phan Van Khai on April 19, 1999, including multiple directives for application, amends, and complements. The actual text differs from the other texts in that it foresees an ordinance to be promulgated by the National Assembly.  

    

The compilation of the project is based on Article 70 of the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Resolution No. 42/2000/QH concerning the compilation of laws and ordinances for the year 2000. It contains 6 segments comprising assigned objectives, general prescriptions, civic rights and duties, prescriptions concerning religious organizations and activities, international religions and activities of religions overseas, and responsibilities of the State. Globally, the project does not bring in significant changes. Most provisions are mere repetitions or interpretations of the orientations and decisions of the Politburo and the laws, rules, and regulations of the government on the religions.

In fact, except for segment II, which is devoted in part to the definition of 13 terms relating to religion, the rest mostly rephrases or implements the ideological implications, rules and regulations already introduced in previous law-decrees. By simple phraseology, belief is designated as faith in supernatural forces; religion, the community of persons of the same faith operated on a doctrinal system, religious duties and a specific liturgy; religious organization, an organization founded on a religious purpose operated on a statute in conformity with the legislation of the State; a leader, a responsible recognized by the State; the Church, the most general system of administrative organization of a religion comprising the religious, administrative responsible, ecclesiastic dignitaries, and lay executive members, establishments of cult, and establishment of formation of that religion; believer, a person that has faith or is attached to a religious organization; religious, an adept that practices the observance of particular rules of a Church concerning his religious life and that is specialized in religious activities; lay responsible, layman that participates in the gestation of a Church; ecclesiastic dignitaries, a religious conducting an administrative function; establishment of cult, place where ceremony and services of cult are performed; establishment of formation of religions schools or classes where the religious are taught or and formed to become ecclesiastic dignitaries and specialists in religious activities; religious activities, exercises of religious life, propagation of religion, and its administration; and superstitious activities, anti-scientific actions.  

Defining complex realities of religion conceived by diverse religions is truly a simple task. It is not a surprise when virtually all designations of terms in the text are simplistic, arbitrary, and authoritative. Religion, for example, is not simply a community of people as is materialistically interpreted by the atheist. It is, in practice, a way of life, a faith in a supernatural power or a principle on which the destiny of Man depends and to which his abeyance and respect of Man are rendered. It fosters intellectual and moral attitudes resulting from this belief in conformity with a social model and constitutes spiritual practices of the intellectual, moral, and cultural aspects of life. It predisposes an institution, and not an organization