The US-based Christian Freedom International (CFI) has recently named Vietnam as one of the world’s leading countries in what it called repression of religious freedom. However, its irrational judgment cannot overshadow the positive achievements of religious freedom in Vietnam.
Based on distorted facts and false reports on Vietnam, CFI has accused the Vietnamese Government of its strict control of religious activities by issuing law-regulated rules. It has also made up a story about clean-up operations, closure of churches and arbitrary arrests of catholic followers. Giving itself the right to give judgments on other countries, CFI has called on Western nations not to believe that there is religious freedom in Vietnam. This is an erroneous act, running counter to the religious freedom situation in the country, and an insult to the Vietnamese Government and people.
Giving those slanderous allegations and erroneous unfair criticisms, CFI has deliberately turned a blind eye to the positive achievements of religious freedom and human rights in Vietnam, which has been acknowledged and appreciated by the world public.
In particular, the white book on religion and religious policies in Vietnam published by the Government Committee for Religious Affairs fully reflects the real religious freedom situation in Vietnam. Since the early days of establishing a new Vietnamese country, the Vietnamese State has always paid due attention to religious affairs, which are ensured by its specific policies.
In fact, at the first session of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on September 3, 1945, the late President Ho Chi Minh put forth six urgent issues that needed to be resolved, including the exercise of freedom of belief and unity between non-Catholics and Catholics. This has been a consistent view of the Vietnamese State over the past 60 years.
The first 1946 Constitution clearly stipulates that every citizen has the rights to freedom of belief and the 1980 Constitution of the unified Vietnam also emphasizes that every citizen has the right to freedom of belief and the right to practise a belief or religion of their choosing. The 1992 Constitution continues to affirm this policy and stresses that no one is allowed to infringe on the freedom to belief or to capitalise on belief and religion in order to run counter to State laws and policies. In order to increase the legal value of and institutionalize Party and State guidelines and policies on religious affairs, the 9th National Assembly Standing Committee approved the Ordinance on Belief and Religion on June 18, 2004. Obviously, with a better legal system, the Vietnamese State has made unceasing efforts to make its legal system be on par with International Law and have created the best legal foundation for people to exercise the rights to freedom of belief and religion.
As a result, nearly 20 million religious practitioners from six different religions, including Buddhism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Muslim, Caodaiism and Hoa Hao Buddhism are free to practise their religion. Around 22,000 places of worship, including many churches, pagodas and temples have been newly built or rebuilt beautifully. Furthermore, festive days such as Christmas Day, Buddha’s Birthday and La Vang Festival are observed by the Vietnamese State and have become important events for not only religious followers but also the entire people. If the rights to freedom of belief and religion are not actually exercised, there will be no development of such diversified genres of belief and religion, and religious people will fail to enjoy a free and happy life in a democratic and united country as today. In his visit to Cua Bac Church in Hanoi in late November last year, as part of his tour of Vietnam, US President George W. Bush was told by Catholics there that they were free to practise their religion.
Earlier, the US Department of State took Vietnam off its list of “countries of particular concern” for religious freedom, presenting its objective views on the real situation of religious freedom in the country. At the reception given to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI appreciated Vietnam as a model of belief and religious freedom in Asia. The reality of belief and religious freedom in Vietnam is a convincing evidence to the international community. Why has the Christian Freedom International still slandered Vietnam? Not that CFI does not know the truth but it had deliberately shut its ears in order to conceal their ill-intentioned schemes against Vietnam and its people. It must be condemned for going against the goal of protecting the right to enjoy religious freedom.
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