Vu Chien Thang, Head of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs,said that while considering belief and religion as the demand of people, alongwith socio-economic development policies, Vietnam has over the past years paidmuch attention to and created favourable conditions for religious activities ofpeople, including foreigners residing legally in Vietnam.
As part of the efforts to complete legal frameworks on religion, createa favourable legal corridor for religious activities, and lay a foundation forauthorised agencies to improve their management tasks, the 14th National Assemblyadopted the Law on Belief and Religion and gave the Government one year tostipulate the details of several articles of the law as well as measures toeffectively enforce it, said Thang.
Deputy Head of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs Bui ThanhHa said that Vietnam is home to many ethnic minorities and religions. Over 95percent of the Vietnamese population have been practicing belief or religion.
By the end of June 2017, the State has recognised or granted operation registrationcertificates to 41 organisations of 15 religions with about 25.3 millionfollowers, accounting for 27 percent of the population, a rise of 35 percentover 2003, along with 60,799 dignitaries, 133,662 religious workers and 27,916worshipping establishments, said Ha.
Over the past years, religious followers have made positivecontributions to the cause of national construction and defence. All recognisedorganisations have operated in close relations with the nation and in line withthe law, while the majority of religious dignitaries and followers have engagedin patriotic, charitable and poverty reduction movements.
The State of Vietnam has been working hard to observe the rights tofreedom of belief and religion of all people, including foreign nationalslegally residing in Vietnam, thus helping religious followers trust in theState’s leadership.
However, Ha also pointed to a number of problems in religious affairs,including some cases of social disorder, law violations in religious activities,and the moral and prestigious degradation of some religious dignitaries.Particularly, there have been some cases of abusing religion to incite peopleto cause social disorder and harm the national solidarity bloc, he said.
He said that the key principle in the State policy on belief andreligion is to respect freedom to belief and religion of all people. Everyonehas their rights to follow or not follow a belief or religion, he said, addingthat the rights are respected and observed by the State and that all religionsare equal before the law.
The official also briefed the participants on new and major contents ofthe Law on Belief and Religion and the Government’s Decree 162/2017/ND-CP.-VNA