According to Nghe An Provincial Police, in recent years, illegal proselytizing activities have mainly occurred in Protestantism and the Church of God the Mother. In addition, followers of Falun Gong (not recognized by the Vietnamese government as a form of religion) have also been very active in propaganda activities and developing illegal organizations.
Some new and strange religions such as the Dharma of Diệu Âm, Năng lượng nguyên Trống đồng, Nhất quân đạo, Tín giáo tâm linh… mainly gather to practice or go abroad to attend training courses abroad. In some ethnic minority and mountainous areas, strange religions have been infiltrating, leading to religious activities (strange religions) that are not in accordance with the law, potentially complicating security and order.
Taking advantage of the policy of freedom of belief and religion, the leaders have propagated and enticed people to believe and practice superstitious acts, which are contrary to good customs and traditions, culturally deviant, harmful to social morality, and cause disunity with traditional religions for the purpose of profit (violating Article 5 of the Law on Belief and Religion, which stipulates prohibited acts in belief and religious activities). For example, the Church of God the Mother propagates that God will heal everything, including epidemics (such as Covid-19) and serious diseases...; or the Hoang Thien Long sect takes advantage of people's belief and respect for President Ho Chi Minh to propagate many superstitious and unscientific medical treatments.
Some illegal proselytizing and proselytizing activities are still hidden under many names (such as humanitarian charity, opening classes to guide people to do good, etc.). Not stopping there, these activities also create opportunities for hostile forces to continue to carry out their plots to take advantage of the issue of democracy and human rights in religion to divide the great national unity bloc to oppose the government. In Ky Son district, some individuals residing in the communes of Na Ngoi, Huoi Tu, Ta Ca were lured and enticed by some organizations and individuals outside the area to follow strange religions, etc. The above subjects declared that they did not need the management of the commune government, the village management board, did not need any help from the people in the village, and were willing to abandon their families, brothers, and relatives.
Some people residing in Na Ngoi commune also collude with outsiders, filming, taking photos, and sharing information on social networking sites such as Facebook and YouTube to defame the Party Committee, government, and customs and practices of the Mong people.
In Tri Le commune (Que Phong), in July and August 2023, signs of gathering for strange religious activities were discovered at the house of Ly Y S. residing in Muong Long village, including 4 households/13 people. The working group of the government and functional forces came to work, requesting that there be no gathering for activities, but the subjects called the leaders to receive instructions, directed to film and record, and had an uncooperative attitude, causing difficulties for the working group.
According to records, illegal proselytizing activities currently mainly take place with 3 common methods such as: Enticing, propagating and attracting by word of mouth or through open software such as: Zalo, Messenger, Telegram, Shen Yun Zua Pin...; propagating, sharing and distributing documents and related items; gathering to conduct illegal proselytizing activities.
The representative of the Provincial Religious Committee said that the characteristic of new religious phenomena and strange religions in Nghe An is that when they are introduced, the leaders often choose the elderly, women, people with serious illnesses, students (with insufficient awareness) to attract and entice. After being fascinated by lofty and superstitious scriptures, they make many material and spiritual promises to attract more believers. After being reported and eradicated, the leaders often use many forms of resistance.
For example, the Hoang Thien Long religion, which began to enter Vinh City in 2007, developed most strongly in 2014 with about 500 participants in the whole province, concentrated in Vinh City, Dien Chau, Tan Ky, Yen Thanh... In the past, taking advantage of festival occasions such as the Sen Village Festival in Kim Lien Commune, commemorating Uncle Ho's birthday on May 19 every year, the Hoang Thien Long religion group organized thousands of people from the northern provinces to make a pilgrimage to Uncle Ho's hometown, sitting in the relic sites, the memorial house of President Ho Chi Minh to recite sutras, pray, and distribute sutras, causing offense, affecting the security and order of the relic sites, and affecting other activities of domestic and international tourists visiting Uncle Ho's hometown. Although local authorities have propagated and fought against the group, the leaders have not given up and maintained their activities; Some people in Hoang Mai town still write complaints to local authorities because they believe that the authorities are violating people's freedom of belief and religion...
Regarding the Church of God the Mother, due to the increased management of the government, many subjects have moved to other provinces to operate, but some leaders still secretly and secretly conduct propaganda activities and attract followers. Notably, to cope with the detection and handling of the authorities, these subjects find ways to rent solid houses and apartments to operate illegally, and set up secret conventions to enter and exit the activity locations. The leaders also do not use documents or papers but create closed groups on software such as Telegram, Zoom, etc. to organize online activities and exchange related information and documents. "The new trick is that the subjects focus on propaganda to attract a number of businessmen, enterprises, and people with economic conditions in the area to participate in order to receive economic support and create conditions to turn businesses into activity locations," said Mr. Nguyen Hoai Sang - an official of the Provincial Religious Affairs Committee.
In some mountainous and ethnic areas, bad elements take advantage of the limited education level and difficulties in the material and spiritual life of ethnic minorities, with propaganda tricks about "human rights", "democracy", "freedom", especially freedom of belief and religion; using ethnic minorities living in the same area to carry out illegal religious propaganda, dividing the great solidarity bloc, gradually reducing the trust between the people and the Party and the government.
Currently, in the province, there are about 90 cases of illegal Protestantism in the border area. Of which, there are 4 groups with 13 households/85 people (including 33 people under 14 years old) of Mong people, in addition to 5 cases in the communes of My Ly, Dooc May (Ky Son), Phuc Son (Anh Son), Ngoc Lam (Thanh Chuong). In particular, at the end of 2023, it was discovered that the Facebook pages of the reactionary organization Committee for Rescue of Seafarers - BPSOS, "Hmong Human Ringhts" posted and shared content accusing the authorities of mountainous districts such as Ky Son, Que Phong of forcing Protestant believers in the area to abandon their religion, leave the locality, and seek asylum abroad.
The nature of the new religious phenomena and strange religions mentioned above is to take advantage of religious issues with fanciful colors to attract and gather forces, negatively affecting social life, causing psychological indignation among a part of the people and religious followers, complicating political security and social order in the area. In particular, through the activities of some strange religions, hostile forces have stepped up their plot to take advantage of religious issues to divide the great national unity bloc in order to sabotage the State of Vietnam.
According to the assessment of the authorities, with the development of science and technology, it is predicted that in the coming time, new religious phenomena and strange religions will continue to be propagated and developed by subjects with many different methods and tricks. In which, they mainly focus on cyberspace. Propaganda documents will be distributed through social networking sites such as Facebook, Youtube, or through applications such as Zoom, Telegram, Webex...; therefore, it will be difficult for the authorities to detect and fight.
Ms. Trinh Thi Quynh Nga - Secretary of the Party Committee of Nam Thanh Commune (Nam Dan), shared: Nam Thanh currently has 9 villages with about 9,000 people. Although the Party Committee and the commune government have stepped up propaganda and education to villages and hamlets about the need to educate people not to participate in activities of strange religions not permitted by the State; but some people's awareness is still limited, so they are easily lured and enticed. In early 2024, the authorities discovered an online Church of God the Mother activity through the Sinal application led by two brothers residing in Nam Thanh Commune with 7 members. Through the struggle, these two subjects pledged to give up. Comparing current regulations on religion and religious policies in Vietnam, it shows that the above new religious phenomena and strange religions do not have their own doctrines, canon laws, or organizational structures, and do not meet the conditions for being granted a registration for centralized religious activities or a registration for religious activities.
According to Mr. Hoanh Danh Truyen - Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Committee: Currently, handling illegal proselytizing acts still faces many difficulties. Mainly, it is still in the form of mobilizing, disbanding groups, confiscating and destroying documents and scriptures of unknown origin, reminding, signing commitments to stop activities. Because determining what is a strange religion, heresy, new religious phenomenon, superstition... is still unclear. To handle the ringleaders, it is necessary to clearly define the concept and have regulations to adjust. Handling illegal documents is also difficult, because the documents are mainly in the form of photocopies, downloaded from the internet, and not printed products that can only be confiscated but not processed at the original source. Often after confiscating these documents, the subjects download other documents from the internet and print them out for use. Not to mention that the ringleaders are increasingly sophisticated in their activities, only operating in closed groups on social networks, informal gatherings and then attracting people to participate. Strange religious groups also entice and attract followers with material benefits... In addition, the leaders often change locations, change propaganda personnel, and divide into small groups that operate at home, which also causes many difficulties in the fight and prevention work.
In reality, new religious phenomena and strange religions are appearing more and more and are present in most localities in the whole province, while the Law on Belief and Religion does not have specific regulations; relevant ministries and branches do not have official documents guiding some difficulties in implementing the Law on Belief and Religion. The legal basis for combating and handling violations in the field of religion is still lacking and weak, and competent agencies must apply other legal provisions, so the effectiveness of the fight is not high. Therefore, authorities at all levels continue to strengthen the state management of religion, state management agencies need to promote the completion and institutionalization of legal documents and effectively organize the implementation of state management documents on belief and religious activities. At the same time, it is recommended to issue specific sanctions to handle violations of religion and belief, including sanctions for illegal proselytizing activities.
