Religion in Vietnam

Although according to a 1999 census most Vietnamese list themselves as having no religious affiliation,[6] religion, as defined by shared beliefs and practices, remains an integral part of Vietnamese life,[7] dictating the social behaviours and spiritual practices of Vietnamese individuals in Vietnam and abroad. The triple religion (Vietnamese: tam giáo), referring to the syncretic combination of Mahayana Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, and Vietnamese folk religion (often assimilated), remain a strong influence on the beliefs and practices of the Vietnamese, even if the levels of formal membership in these religious communities may not reflect that influence. One of the most notable and universal spiritual practices common to Vietnamese is ancestor veneration. Regardless of formal religious affiliation, it is very common to have an altar in the home and business where prayers are offered to their ancestors. These offerings and practices are done frequently during important traditional or religious celebrations (e.g., death anniversaries), the starting of a new business, or even when a family member needs guidance or counsel. Belief in ghosts and spirits is very common; many believe that the traditions are important links to culture and history and are enjoyable, while others believe that failing to perform the proper rituals for one's ancestors will literally cause them to become hungry ghosts (Vietnamese: ma đói).[nb 1]

A 2002 Pew Research Center report claimed that 24% of the population of Vietnam view religion as "very important".[8]

The earliest forms of Vietnamese religious practice were animistic and totemic in nature.[13] The decorations on Dong Son bronze drums, generally agreed to have ceremonial and possibly religious value,[nb 2] depict the figures of birds, leading historians to believe birds were objects of worship for the early Vietnamese. Dragons were another frequently recurring figure in Vietnamese art, arising from the veneration of Lạc Long Quân, a mythical dragon-king who is said to be the father of the Vietnamese people. The Golden Turtle God Kim Qui was said to appear to kings in times of crisis, notably to Lê Lợi, from whom he took the legendary sword Thuận Thiên after it had been dropped into Hoan Kiem Lake. Contact with Chinese civilization, and the introduction of the triple religion of Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism, added a further ethical and moral dimension to the indigenous Vietnamese religion.[13] A recent research using folkloristic computations has provided evidence on the existence of "cultural additivity" by examining the interaction of Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism throughout the history of Vietnam.[14]

A lên đồng practitioner performs in a temple.

Scholars such as Toan Ánh (Tín-ngưỡng Việt-Nam 1991) have listed a resurgence in traditional belief in many local, village-level, spirits.[15]

Hà Nội's reconstructed One Pillar Pagoda, a historic Buddhist temple.

Amitabha Buddha statue at Bút Tháp Temple.

Buddhism came to Vietnam as early as the second century AD through the North from China and via Southern routes from India.[16] Mahayana Buddhism first spread from China to Vietnam's Red River Delta region around 300 AD. Theravada Buddhism arrived from India into the southern Mekong Delta region many years later, between 300-600 AD. Buddhism as practiced by the ethnic Vietnamese is mainly of the Mahayana school, although some ethnic minorities (such as the Khmer Krom in the southern Delta region of Vietnam) adhere to the Theravada school.[17]

Buddhist practice in Vietnam differs from that of other Asian countries, and does not contain the same institutional structures, hierarchy, or sanghas that exist in other traditional Buddhist settings. It has instead grown from a symbiotic relationship with Taoism, Chinese spirituality, and the indigenous Vietnamese religion, with the majority of Buddhist practitioners focusing on devotional rituals rather than meditation.[18]

Monks praying in the Cao Đài Holy See in Tây Ninh, Vietnam.

Cao Đài is a relatively new, syncretist, monotheistic religion, officially established in the city of Tây Ninh, southern Vietnam, in 1926. The term Cao Đài literally means "highest tower", or figuratively, the highest place where God reigns. Cao Đài's first disciples, Ngô Văn Chiêu, Cao Quỳnh Cư, Phạm Công Tắc and Cao Hoài Sang, claimed to have received direct communications from God, who gave them explicit instructions for establishing a new religion that would commence the Third Era of Religious Amnesty. Adherents engage in ethical practices such as prayer, veneration of ancestors, nonviolence, and vegetarianism with the minimum goal of rejoining God the Father in Heaven and the ultimate goal of freedom from the cycle of birth and death.

Official government records counted 2.2 million registered members of Tây Ninh Cao Đài in 2005, but also estimated in 2007 that there were 3.2 million Caodaists including roughly a dozen other denominations.[51] According to the official statistics, in 2014, the estimated number of Caodaists is 4.4 million, it was a dramatic increase of 1.2 million followers or an increase of 37.5%. Country Information and Guidance — Vietnam: Religious minority groups. December 2014. Quoting United Nations' "Press Statement on the visit to the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam by the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief". It is more likely that "unofficial" Caodaists have decided that it is now acceptable to identify themselves as followers of the religion in the last seven years. Many outside sources give 4 to 6 million. Some estimates are as high as 8 million adherents in Vietnam. An additional 30,000 (numbers may vary) (primarily ethnic Vietnamese) live in the United States, Europe, and Australia.

Hindu temple in Nha Trang

Adherence to Hinduism in Vietnam is associated with the Cham ethnic minority; the first religion of the Champa kingdom was a form of Shaivite Hinduism, brought by sea from India. The Cham people erected Hindu temples (Bimong) throughout Central Vietnam, many of which are still in use today; the now-abandoned Mỹ Sơn, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is perhaps the most well-known of Cham temple complexes.

Approximately 50,000 ethnic Cham in the south-central coastal area practice a devotional form of Hinduism. Most of the Cham Hindus belong to the Nagavamshi Kshatriya caste,[52] but a considerable minority are Brahmins.[53] Another 4,000 Hindus (mostly Tamil, and otherwise of Cham or mixed Indian-Vietnamese descent) live in Ho Chi Minh City, where the Mariamman Temple acts as a focal point for the community. In Ninh Thuận Province, where most of the Cham in Vietnam reside, Cham Balamon (Hindu Cham) numbers 32,000; out of the 22 villages in Ninh Thuận, 15 are Hindu.[54]

As per the census of 2009, there are a total of 56,427 Cham Hindus in Vietnam. Out of this number, 40,695 are in Ninh Thuận, and another 15,094 are in Bình Thuận.[55]

Mosque in An Giang

Much like Hinduism, adherence to Islam in Vietnam is primarily associated with the Cham ethnic minority, although there is also a Muslim population of mixed ethnic origins, also known as Cham, or Cham Muslims, in the southwest (Mekong Delta) of the country. Islam is assumed to have come to Vietnam much after its arrival in China during the Tang Dynasty (618–907), through contact with Arab traders. The number of followers began to increase as contacts with Sultanate of Malacca broadened in the wake of the 1471 collapse of the Champa Kingdom, but Islam would not become widespread among the Cham until the mid-17th century. In the mid-19th century, many Muslims Chams emigrated from Cambodia and settled in the Mekong Delta region, further bolstering the presence of Islam in Vietnam.

Vietnam's Muslims remained relatively isolated from the mainstream of world Islam, and their isolation, combined with the lack of religious schools, caused the practice of Islam in Vietnam to become syncretic. Although the Chams follow a localised adaptation of Islamic theology, they consider themselves Muslims. However, they pray only on Fridays and celebrate Ramadan for only three days. Circumcision is performed not physically, but symbolically, with a religious leader making the gestures of circumcision with a wooden toy knife.[56]

Vietnam's largest mosque was opened in January 2006 in Xuân Lộc, Đồng Nai Province; its construction was partially funded by donations from Saudi Arabia.[57]

A 2005 census counted over 66,000 Muslims in Vietnam, up from 63,000 in 1999.[21][58] Over 77% lived in the Southeast Region, with 34% in Ninh Thuận Province, 24% in Bình Thuận Province, and 9% in Ho Chi Minh City; another 22% lived in the Mekong Delta region, primarily in An Giang Province. In Ninh Thuận Province, where most of the Cham in Vietnam reside, Cham Bani (Muslim Cham) number close to 22,000. Out of the 22 villages in Ninh Thuận, 7 are Muslim.[54]

The Cham in Vietnam are only recognized as a minority, and not as an indigenous people by the Vietnamese government despite being indigenous to the region. Both Hindu and Muslim Chams have experienced religious and ethnic persecution and restrictions on their faith under the current Vietnamese government, with the Vietnamese state confisticating Cham property and forbidding Cham from observing their religious beliefs. Hindu temples were turned into tourist sites against the wishes of the Cham Hindus. In 2010 and 2013 several incidents occurred in Thành Tín and Phươc Nhơn villages where Cham were murdered by Vietnamese. In 2012, Vietnamese police in Chau Giang village stormed into a Cham Mosque, stole the electric generator, and also raped Cham girls.[59] Cham Muslims in the Mekong Delta have also been economically marginalized and pushed into poverty by Vietnamese policies, with ethnic Vietnamese Kinh settling on majority Cham land with state support, and religious practices of minorities have been targeted for elimination by the Vietnamese government.[60]

The Vietnamese government fears that evidence of Champa's influence over the disputed area in the South China Sea would bring attention to human rights violations and killings of ethnic minorities in Vietnam such as in the 2001 and 2004 uprisings, and lead to the issue of Cham autonomy being brought into the dispute, since the Vietnamese conquered the Hindu and Muslim Cham people in a war in 1832, and the Vietnamese continue to destroy evidence of Cham culture and artifacts left behind, plundering or building on top of Cham temples, building farms over them, banning Cham religious practices, and omitting references to the destroyed Cham capital of Song Luy in the 1832 invasion in history books and tourist guides. The situation of Cham compared to ethnic Vietnamese is substandard, lacking water and electricity and living in houses made out of mud.[61]

The first Jews to visit Vietnam likely arrived following the French colonization of the country, in the latter half of the 19th century. There are a handful of references to Jewish settlement in Saigon sprinkled through the pages of the Jewish Chronicle in the 1860s and 1870s.

As late as 1939, the estimated combined population of the Jewish communities of Haiphong, Hanoi, Saigon and Tourane in French Indo-China numbered approximately 1,000 individuals.[62] In 1940 the anti-Semitic Vichy-France "Statute on Jews" was implemented in French Indo-China (Vietnam), leading to increased restrictions and widespread discrimination against Jews. The anti-Jewish laws were repealed in January 1945.[63]

Prior to the French evacuation of Indochina in 1954, the Jewish population in Indochina (which encompassed Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia) was reportedly 1,500; most of these Jews were said to have left with the French, leaving behind no organized Jewish communal structure.[64] In 1971, about 12 French Jews still remained in South Vietnam, all in Saigon.[65] In 2005, the U.S. State Department's "International Religious Freedom Report" noted "There were no reported anti-Semitic incidents during the period covered by this report. The country's small Jewish population is comprised almost entirely of expatriates."[43]

Established in the 1950s, the Vietnamese Baháʼí community once claimed upwards of 200,000 followers, mainly concentrated in the South.[66] The number of followers dwindled as a result of the banning of the practice of the Baháʼí Faith after the Vietnam War. After years of negotiation, the Baháʼí Faith was registered nationally in 2007, once again receiving full recognition as a religious community.[66] In 2009 it was reported that the Baháʼí community has about 7,000 followers and 73 assemblies.[67]

The Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam formally allows religious freedom,[68] however, government restrictions remain on organized activities of many religious groups. The government maintains a prominent role overseeing officially recognized religions. Religious groups encounter the greatest restrictions when they are perceived by the government as a challenge to its rule or to the authority of the Communist party.[69] In 2007, Viet Nam News reported that Viet Nam has six religions recognised by the State (Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Cao Đài, and Hòa Hảo), but that the Baháʼí Community of Viet Nam had been awarded a "certificate of operation" from the Government's Committee for Religious Affairs.[70] In 2007, the Committee for Religious Affairs was reported to have granted operation registration certificates to three new religions and a religious sect in addition to six existing religions.[70] Every citizen is declared free to follow no, one, or more religions, practice religion without violating the law, be treated equally regardless of religious belief, and to be protected from being violated in their religious freedom, but is prohibited from using religion to violate the law.[68]

In fact, there are some limitations in religious practice in Vietnam. Foreign missionaries are not legally allowed to proselytize or perform religious activities. No other religions than the aforementioned eight are allowed. Preachers and religious associations are prohibited to use religion to propagate ideologies that are opposed to the government. Many Vietnamese preachers who fled for America and other countries say that they were suppressed by the Communist government for no, unreasonable or ethnic reasons; however, preachers and religious associations who abide by the law working in Vietnam today are aided and honored by the government.

The Vietnamese government has been criticized for its religious violations by the United States, the Vatican, and expatriate Vietnamese who oppose the Communist government. However, due to recent improvements in religious liberty, the United States no longer considers Vietnam a Country of Particular Concern. The Vatican has also considered negotiations with Vietnam about freedom for Vietnamese Catholics, and was able to reach a permanent agreement which would allow a permanent representative in the future to the country.

Despite some substantial attempts by the Vietnamese government to improve its international image and ease restrictions on religious freedom, the cases of dissident religious leaders' persecution has not stopped in the recent years. The general secretary of the Mennonite Church in Vietnam and religious freedom advocate Nguyen Hong Quang was arrested in 2004, and his house razed to the ground.[71] Christian Montagnards and their house churches continue to suffer from state control and restrictions.[72] In March, 2007, a member of the main Hanoi congregation of the legally recognized Evangelical Church of Vietnam (North) Nguyen Van Dai was arrested for accusations relating to his defense of religious freedom, including disseminating alleged "infractions" of religious liberty.[73]

• Modernity and Re-Enchantment: Religion in Post-Revolutionary Vietnam, edited by Philip Taylor, ISEAS, Singapore, 2007. ISBN 978-981-230-438-4; Lexington Books, Maryland, 2008, ISBN 978-0-7391-2739-1.
• Janet Alison Hoskins. What Are Vietnam's Indigenous Religions?. Center for Southeast Asian Studies Kyoto University.
• Janet Alison Hoskins. 2015. The Divine Eye and the Diaspora: Vietnamese Syncretism Becomes Transpacific Caodaism. p. 239. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press ISBN 978-0-8248-5140-8
• Tran, Anh Q. (2017). Gods, Heroes, and Ancestors: An Interreligious Encounter in Eighteenth-Century Vietnam. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780190677602.
• Adriano di St. Thecla (1750). Olga Dror (ed.) (2002). Opusculum de Sectis apud Sinenses et Tunkinenses: A Small Treatise on the Sects among the Chinese and Tonkinese. Ithaca, New York: SEAP Publications, Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780877277323.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Religion in Vietnam.

• Beliefs and religions of Vietnam