The Right to Freedom of Belief and Religion of the People in the Policy and Law of the Party and the State

Abstract

Vietnam is a country with a diversity of religions, without religious discrimination or interreligious conflict. Both believers and non-believers live together harmoniously within the Vietnamese national community. Respect for freedom of belief and religion has consistently been a central principle in the policies and approaches of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Vietnamese State. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the viewpoints of the Vietnamese State on religious affairs and its policy-making regarding belief and religion. The guarantee of freedom of belief and religion for citizens was already recorded in the first Constitution of 1946 and has remained a consistent viewpoint of the Party ever since.