Vietnam always respects freedom of belief, freedom of religion and freedom of non-belief and religion, and creates favorable conditions for religious organizations to operate in accordance with the law.
Up to now, the Vietnamese State has recognized and granted operating registration to 43 religious organizations of 16 religions. In Nghe An, thoroughly grasping the Party's guidelines and viewpoints, the State's policies and laws on religious work, considering "belief and religion as the spiritual needs of a part of the people, which are and will exist with the nation in the process of building socialism in our country", in recent years, the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee have always paid attention to leading, directing, promulgating and implementing many policies and solutions on religious work, contributing to strengthening the great national unity bloc in the province. Along with that, resolutely fighting against acts of hiding under the guise of religion that affect social order, go against traditional customs and traditions, especially illegal proselytizing activities and the infiltration of new religious phenomena and strange religions not recognized by the State in order to proactively handle and resolve complex issues early and from afar.
In Van Thanh commune (Yen Thanh), when a number of individuals showed signs of following new religious phenomena and strange religions such as the Mother of God Church, Hoang Thien Long religion, and Falun Gong in early 2022, Van Thanh commune police advised the commune People's Committee to establish a propaganda team to handle violations of illegal religious activities and preaching, with a Vice Chairman of the commune People's Committee as the team leader; the Commune Police Chief and the commune cultural officer as the deputy team leader; members of the Commune Fatherland Front Committee, heads of the Front work committees of hamlets and some regular police officers as team members. In addition to grasping the situation, detecting early, and preventing early, the working group also promoted propaganda and mobilization in many forms so that people could clearly understand and raise their vigilance.
According to Mr. Hoang Danh Truyen - Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Committee: In 2023, the district discovered and handled a number of cases related to strange religions (Church of God the Mother, Falun Gong, Dharma Door of Wonderful Sound, Energy from the Bronze Drum; Hoang Thien Long); participants were of different ages, mainly people with difficult conditions, limited education or facing difficulties in life. Therefore, the Party Committee and the government mobilized the participation of the entire political system, focusing on propaganda and mobilization work. At the same time, promoting the role of the "eyes and ears" of the people in detecting and supporting the Party Committee, the government and the functional forces to prevent illegal proselytizing activities early.
In some mountainous ethnic minority areas, there is an infiltration of strange religions such as Tam Hop commune (Tuong Duong), Tri Le commune (Que Phong), Huoi Tu and Na Ngoi communes (Ky Son)... Party committees, authorities and functional forces in the above localities have also increased their contact with the people and villages to propagate in both the common language and the ethnic language to encourage people not to believe, not to participate in illegal religious activities, not to fall into the trap of bad guys who disrupt security and order in the area. In addition, they have coordinated with Party committees, village management boards, village elders, prestigious people, and clan leaders to encourage households following strange religions to abandon illegal religious activities. At the same time, they have built models to "help people have enough to eat, be self-sufficient in their villages", and preserve the national cultural identity.
In Tam Hop commune (Tuong Duong), when some subjects secretly preached strange religions in Mong Pha Lom village, disturbing the lives of the people, the Party Committee and the government of Tam Hop commune directed departments, branches, and organizations to coordinate with the Border Guard to establish a working group to regularly monitor the area, both to propagate and mobilize the subjects, and to propagate to the villagers to understand and raise vigilance. The working group also helped the people of Pha Lom village to build a new rural village, and has so far achieved 11/13 criteria.
In Phu Kha 1 village, Na Ngoi commune (Ky Son), when some naive and gullible Mong people were lured and incited to participate in illegal religious activities, causing resentment in the clan, disturbing the security situation in the village, the Ky Son District Party Committee's Mass Mobilization Committee coordinated with the Border Guard Station and the Na Ngoi Commune Party Committee to build the "Peace for the People" model in Phu Kha 1 village. The District Military Command also advised on integrating the implementation of the model "Helping people to be well-off and self-reliant in the village" as a "Skilled Mass Mobilization" model with many contents aimed at the goal of peace for the people and the area; focusing on preventing illegal proselytizing, stabilizing village and hamlet security, supporting people to change their awareness in production, livestock farming, hunger eradication and poverty reduction.
In the border area, the Border Guard force also actively and proactively grasps the situation, advises and proposes to local Party committees and authorities policies and solutions to resolutely, promptly and effectively handle incidents, avoids being surprised, maintains security, order and stability in the area.
In August 2023, the border guards coordinated and advised the Party Committee and the government to establish working groups to directly go to Ly Y S.'s house in Muong Long village, Tri Le commune (Que Phong) - a gathering place for strange religious activities to propagate and mobilize to stop illegal religious activities.
On October 9, 2023, the Border Guard force coordinated with the Police and local authorities to propagate and persuade Xeo Van M., born in 1986, residing in Huoi Cang 2 village, Bac Ly commune, My Ly (Ky Son), who followed a strange religion while working abroad in Malaysia, to return home and voluntarily hand over 2 Bibles and write a commitment to abandon the strange religion.
From 2020 to now, Nghe An Police have promptly detected, fought, and handled 82 cases, 462 subjects with acts of propaganda and illegal development of religion, seized more than 2,987 documents and hundreds of related illegal artifacts. Of which, Protestantism has 13 cases, 141 subjects; Church of God the Mother has 16 cases, 94 subjects; Beliefs and Spirituality related to President Ho Chi Minh has 6 cases, 137 subjects; Falun Gong has 48 cases, 70 subjects.
In the third quarter of 2023, the authorities discovered and handled 4 cases/45 subjects for illegal gatherings, distributing documents, propagating, and enticing people to join Falun Gong in Thuong Son commune (Do Luong) and in Hung Loc commune, Truong Thi ward (Vinh city), at Nghe An province's Rehabilitation Hospital (Nghi Thu ward, Cua Lo town). In addition, 9 cases of followers of the Dieu Am Dharma sect in Do Luong, Tuong Duong districts and Vinh city were discovered leaving for Thailand to attend the "An cu ket ha" ceremony.
Due to the increased management of the government, the activities of groups and followers of religious phenomena and strange religions are no longer as public as before. After the Provincial People's Committee issued Official Dispatch No. 8530/UBND-NC dated October 9, 2023 on a number of tasks regarding the Church of God the Mother, in which it requested relevant departments, branches, agencies, units, and People's Committees of districts, cities, and towns to strengthen the work of grasping the situation, promptly detecting and resolutely fighting and eliminating the Church of God the Mother in the province in terms of organization. “At the end of September 2023, Nghe An had about 317 followers of the Church of God the Mother (including many children and the elderly listed by household) divided into 16 groups, 6 leaders, appearing in 17/21 urban districts; then by January 2024, in the whole province there were about 100 followers of the Church of God the Mother with 5 groups, mainly concentrated in Yen Thanh, Vinh, Dien Chau…”, said Mr. Nguyen Hoai Sang - an official of the Provincial Religious Committee.
It is forecasted that in the coming time, new and strange religions will continue to propagate and develop illegal religions with many different methods and tricks, especially in cyberspace. To limit the negative impacts of new and strange religious phenomena, Mr. Nguyen Van Long - Acting Head of the Provincial Religious Committee said: Authorities at all levels need to perform well the State management of religion and belief; pay attention to grasping and handling, promptly and legally resolving the legitimate aspirations of religious organizations and followers. For functional sectors, it is necessary to strengthen the work of grasping the situation, promptly handling and resolving complicated issues related to religion early and from afar. Prevent and strictly handle those who take advantage of beliefs and religions to propagate, oppose the Party and the State, and sabotage the great end policy; take advantage of social networks and religious beliefs to spread values that deviate from the teachings and canons of orthodox religions for personal gain...
On the people's side, in the process of participating in activities and expressing religious beliefs, people need to be vigilant and avoid confusion with superstitious activities that disrupt spiritual life, cause material and health damage, and acts of taking advantage of religious activities to cause division in national solidarity, causing political insecurity, disorder, and social safety.