Religious Studies Review

Views of the Vietnamese Communist Party on Religion through the 12th Congress’ Documents

Chu Văn Tuấn — 2019-01-29

The 12^th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam was held from 21^st to the 28^th January 2016 in Hanoi. Delegates discussed in a candid and democratic manner and unanimously passed important documents, including the political report and a report evaluating the implementation of socio-economic tasks between 2011 and 2015 and orientations and tasks for the 2016-2020 period. The Congress’ Documents not only provide the assessment of achievement, results and limitation of the implementation of the 11^th Congress’ limitation, but also makes important decisions towards a comprehensive development of the country in the next stage. The Documents simultaneously propose new awareness, views, and theoretical and practical issues in many domains of social life, including religion. This article reviews and analyses the Communist Party of Vietnam’s view of religion as seen in the Documents of the 12^th Congress in terms of the main contents and the new points in comparison with the previous Congresses’ Documents.

The Role of Religions in Building the Vietnam Contemporary Society

Bùi Thị Kim Hậu — 2019-01-29

The Vietnam revolutionary reality shows that the power of national solidarity including religious solidarity was promoted and it brought success of the revolution. Beside pointing out the role of religions, this article focuses on analysing the religious values in connecting community and society, in building society in general and Vietnam society in particular. Based on the data, the author proposes the basic tasks of the religious policy of the Communist Party of Vietnam and State in order to reach success in the national innovation at present.

Policies toward Protestantism in the Central Highlands of Vietnam over 30 years of Innovation

Ngô Văn Minh — 2019-01-29

The article presents the renovation and success in policies toward Protestantism in the Central Highlands over 30 years of Innovation (Đổi mới) in Vietnam. It also indicates the issues to be interested in the near future in order to warrant the religious needs of the people, direct of religious activities in accordance with the law, and ensure political security there.

An Overview of Socio-History through Church of three Significant Protestant Christian Denominations Officially Recognised by the Vietnamese Government Committee of Religious Affairs in the Early of the 21st Century

Wong Ai Khim — 2019-01-29

In the history of Vietnam, religion served both to integrate the Vietnamese people into a cohesive society and to reinforce its’ importance of embracing one’s religion, including Protestant Christianity in Vietnam. This study concentrated on the socio-history through church movement of a few significant Protestant Christian denominations that have been officially recognised by the Vietnamese Government Committee of Religious Affairs (GCRA) in the early millennium period. The Seventh-Day Adventist Church of Vietnam, Vietnam Mennonite Church and Vietnam Baptist Convention (Grace-Southern) were among the eleven Protestant Christian denominations which have been selected specifically for this study. Interviews, collecting information through designed questionnaires, conference papers and reliable published works were rationale methods in assisting this study. Instability and uncertainties due to foreign colonisations, internal revolutions and war torn in the late 19th century had lost the “period of time” in documenting the chronicle history of Protestant Christianity in Vietnam. It is essential to conserve the different period embarks on socio-history through church movement individually as they are the intangible heritage in the history of Vietnam today.

Research on Fundamental Values of the Traditional Religions in Vietnam

Nguyễn Ngọc Mai — 2019-01-29

Religions emerged from a very early age and could exist independently with political institutions. The significant impacts of religion on human being, society and culture have led to recognize that religions as social entities of the social sciences and politics. This has created the new changes in the perception of religion in general and of religious values in particular. This article examines and clarifies the basic values of the traditional religions in Vietnam in terms of ethic, education, and history.

Some Chracteristics of the Cult of Mazu Goddess in the South Vietnam

Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ — 2019-01-29

In the mind of the Vietnamese, each god or deity has his/her “duty” and function. The various gods and deities are related to different aspects of the human life, such as the Lady of the Realm (Bà Chúa Xứ) governs the land, the Mother Goddess of Water (Bà Thủy) governs the water, Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva saves the unfortunate, the Mazu Goddess (Bà Thiên Hậu) takes care of the sea and blesses all people, etc.. Ethnics in Vietnam worship various gods and deities with the hope that their prayers are heard and responded. The Chinese cult of the Mazu Goddess was absorbed by the Vietnamese in the Southwest in the process of co-existence. Consequently, a part of the Vietnamese built shrines for Mazu Goddess and carried out cultic activities. This article generalizes some features of shrines for Mazu Goddess in the Southwest of Vietnam.

The Cult of Mazu in Minh Huong Village and Acculturation Process (The Case of Huong Vinh commune, Huong Tra district, Thua Thien-Hue, Vietnam)

Phan Thị Hoa Lý — 2019-01-29

The Chinese immigrated to Vietnam in general and to Hue in particular for a long time and they coexisted with the local ethnic groups. The Chinese culture had contacted with the indigenous culture in the process of living, then it gradually changed. Almost of former mandarins of the Ming dynasty in Hue had Vietnamese nationality, got married Vietnamese, followed Vietnamese customs and traditions. They were managed in the Minh Huong village - a village had the organizational structure as a Vietnamese traditional village. The process of cultural contact and mixed marriage caused a dramatic change and characteristics of the Minh Huong village. The cult of Mazu, one of the Chinese folk-religion, also complied with this rule. So far, it has absorbed the Vietnamese culture in all aspects and formed many new cultural paradigms.