Vietnam Religious Ordinance Promulgated
Ho Chi Minh City, 29 July: According to Catholic priest Vu Quang Trung of Jesus Christ from the Hien Linh Monastery, the Government Ordinance on Religions and Belief and its guidance decree have helped usher in a new chapter for spiritual activities of religious people. The promulgation of the mandate clearly reflects the state respect for people's religious and belief freedom, and their spiritual needs and activities, the priest added.
Religious churches, dignitaries, priests and followers have all expressed their support for the government decree, according to Nguyen Ngoc San, head of the municipal board for religious affairs. With the enactment of the ordinance and the decree, a number of religious dignitaries and believers feel happy participating in religious services as they are now confident that their religious activities are protected by law.
There are six major religions with millions of followers operating in Ho Chi Minh City. Diverse religious practices are being conducted in thousands of places of worship in the spirit of "serving both secular and religious lives". Changes can be observed widely and from different aspects of life.
Vo Ngoc Hue, deputy head of the municipal board for religious affairs said that his board so far this year has promptly completed the necessary procedures for the ordination of 32 priests and appointment of 32 others.
Religious communities opened 14 training courses in the year ending in July, including four Buddhist courses participated by 1,300 trainees, two courses for over 500 Protestants and a Caodaism course for 150 dignitaries. In addition, 1,220 Catholic priests received further training on theology over the past seven months.
The city has so far this year welcomed 220 foreign religious dignitaries from 12 delegations, and created favorable conditions for 33 Vietnamese religious dignitaries to go abroad for business purposes.
Ho Chi Minh City authorities also granted permission to 25 places of worship to either build or upgrade their premises with a combined area of 13,521 square meters Instructed by the municipal People's Committee, the people's committee of district 2 has allocated 7,440 square meters of land to the General Confederation of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (south) for building an evangelical theology institute; and the people's committee of Binh Thanh district allocated 209 square meters of land to Vinh Son Humane nuns.
The municipal religious affairs board has actively organized a number of meetings with religious dignitaries to resolve outstanding issues as well as inquire into their desires. The move aims to mitigate differences.
The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha successfully organized the 2,549th Buddha's birthday at Vinh Nghiem Pagoda, drawing almost 10,000 followers. The participants expressed joy when admiring the largest Buddhist flag, which was measured 432 square meters, in Vietnam.
Superior Bonze Thich Thanh Phong, deputy head of the permanent executive board of Vinh Nghiem Pagoda, said religion is an integral part of society and the national interest is the utmost one.
"I have traveled to many countries and found that there are only a few places that religions and priests can enjoy as many privilege and favorable conditions for practicing spiritual services as in Vietnam.
This can be seen through the government policy to exempt taxes for places of worship and religious organizations, whose premises have been unceasingly expanded," the Superior Bonze added./.
