Controlled Religious Plurality: Possibilities for Covenantal Pluralism in Vietnam

Abstract

ccording to Ronald Inglehart et al. (2004), 81 percent of Vietnamese do not believe in God and for that reason Vietnam constitutes an "anomaly" among Southeast Asian countries which "contain almost no atheists." In 2019 the General Statistics Office of Vietnam published similar findings which stated that more than 86 percent of Vietnamese people are classified as nonreligious. The same demographic survey found that six percent of Vietnamese identify as Catholic, around four percent as Buddhist, and around one percent as Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, Cao Ðài and Hoà Hão respectively. 1 Indeed, when asked what their religion is the majority of Vietnamese people usually answer that they do not follow any religion, and most of them have indicated "none" under the rubric "religion" on their identity card.These statements might come as a surprise, especially when one takes into consideration of thousands of Buddhist pagodas and spirit temples spread out across the country, or the fact that most Vietnamese engage in all sorts of ritual practices, such as ancestor worship at their home altar, or at the Buddhist pagoda. The reason for this "self-declared atheism" is not because the Vietnamese people are not religious or the Communist Part-State prefers the "no religion" declaration, but because they make a distinction between "religion" (tôn giáo) and "religious beliefs" (tín ngưỡng) based on membership in a Abstract: Historically, Vietnamese approaches to religion are highly inclusive, with flexibly overlapping religious traditions and ritual practices built on a substratum of ancestor worship. As Vietnam was colonized and became independent, religion became politicized, institutionalized, and separated from the "secular" state, which sought to bring religious practices in line with new state orthodoxies. With a new understanding of "religion" predicated on the Christian model, Vietnam adopted a model of state-religion-society relations that emphasizes not only rights but also obligations, active cooperation between state and religion, and respect for all religions which are declared equal before the law, largely in response to international demands to incorporate the universal model of religious freedom. Yet, the Vietnamese state still perceives religion as a competing source of authority. Consequently, some religions are not considered for official recognition and their followers, such as highland ethnic minorities, are treated as sub-citizens by their own state. Occasionally, their conversion is misread by the rest of society as the rejection of Vietnamese culture. The failure to consider ethnic minorities as modern subjects and state citizens on a par with the Kinh (Vietnamese) majority prevents Vietnam from achieving fullfledged covenantal pluralism.

Upholding Faith and Religious Freedom: An Interpretation of the Qur’ānic Story of Young Cave Dwellers as a Religious Minority

“…Consequently, religious activities performed by minority groups were considered in opposition to Vietnamese culture. 13 In Sri Lanka, there was an anti-halāl and anti-slaughter campaign backed by nationalist Buddhist forces. This campaign aimed at disrupting the Muslim economy.…”