Current Issues about Ethno-religious Communities and Ethno-religious Policy Orientation in Vietnam

Abstract

Vietnam is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country. In the general development process of the nation and ethnic groups, primarily since the 1986 Renovation, along with the tremendous and positive changes in socio-economic fields, many sensitive problems and potentially unpredictable risks of culture, society, ethnicity, and religion have arisen. The rapid transformation of traditional beliefs and some religions in a section of different ethnic minorities and the ethnic majority has significantly contributed to the development of ethno-religious (or religious-ethnic) communities in Vietnam recently. That leads to positive effects but also contains complex social factors, causing many challenges in preserving the traditional cultural values of ethnic groups and the general culture of the Vietnamese people. It also impacts political security, social order, and the great unity of the people. That fact raises the need to identify the essential characteristics and evaluate the main influences of the ethno-religious communities in our country in recent years. On that basis, the author proposes some orientations of ethnic-religious policy in the context of the country, the region, and the world today. The article initially approaches the above contents from the perspective of Ethnology.