Speaking at the event, Deputy Chief of the Government’s Committee for Religious Affairs Pham Huy Tho called on dignitaries and followers of the religion to step up communications in order to improve the understanding of the party’s policies and the state law among parishioners.

He said this would help the followers feel secured when practising the religion and encourage them to fulfill their citizen responsibilities, including contribution to the building of the great unity bloc.

As a locally-originated religion, Tu An Hieu Nghia was founded in 1867 by Ngo (Tu) Loi in Bay Nui region of the Mekong delta province of An Giang. The religion has so far attracted tens of thousands of followers, not only in Kien Giang but also from its neighbouring localities.

Its tenets are the combination of the principles of three religions – Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. The followers live and practice under the principle of learning from Buddhist to cultivate virtue and morals and paying four debts of gratitudes, to one’s parents, country, three refuges - Buddha, Dharma, Sangha – and fellow citizens and all mankind.

During its inception, the most of the followers were patriotic feudal intellectuals during the past resistance against the French colonialists. Later on, Bay Nui remained a revolutionary base of southern Vietnam during the US war for national reunification.

VNA