Resolutely and persistently preventing illegal proselytization - Part I: Accurately identifying the situation
Many individuals are exploiting Vietnam's open-door and integration policies to conduct illegal missionary activities in various localities. These individuals recruit small groups of people to practice their faith with the intention of gradually expanding their operations. How can we detect and prevent these illegal missionary activities in a timely manner, contributing to ensuring security, order, and social safety?
Lesson 1:
IDENTIFY THE SITUATION CORRECTLY
Reporters' TeamOctober 31, 2024
Many individuals are exploiting Vietnam's open-door and integration policies to conduct illegal missionary activities in various localities. These individuals recruit small groups of people to practice their faith with the intention of gradually expanding their operations. How can we detect and prevent these illegal missionary activities in a timely manner, contributing to ensuring security, order, and social safety?
ILLEGAL METHODS OF PROPAGATION
According to information gathered by authorities, in recent times, there have been many illegal proselytizing and religious organization activities in Nghe An province. These activities mainly involve Protestantism, the Church of God the Mother, and Falun Gong (which are not recognized as religions by the Vietnamese government).
At the same time, various "unorthodox religions" such as "Mystical Sound Dharma," "Bronze Drum Root Energy," "Unwavering Dao," etc., also practice their faith or entice gullible people to travel abroad to participate in training courses overseas. In some residential areas, religious activities that violate the law occur, posing potential security and public order problems.
The illegal infiltration of some religions has affected the beliefs and religions of the people, especially ethnic minorities. Many incidents have caused conflicts in ethnic-religious relations, affecting national unity at the grassroots level.
From 2020 to April 2024, the Nghe An Provincial Police, in coordination with other functional forces and local people, detected, investigated, and handled 83 cases involving 462 individuals engaged in illegal proselytization and religious activities, seizing over 2,987 documents and hundreds of related illegal artifacts. These included 13 cases involving 141 individuals from Protestantism; 16 cases involving 94 individuals from the Church of God the Mother; 6 cases involving 157 individuals related to beliefs and spirituality associated with President Ho Chi Minh; and 48 cases involving 70 individuals from Falun Gong.
Nghe An currently has two main religions: Catholicism and Buddhism. Catholicism has nearly 270,000 followers, organized into 11 deaneries, 91 parishes, and 346 sub-parishes. Buddhism has over 30,000 followers, practicing in 43 temples. Protestantism has about 150 adherents belonging to various denominations, but no group has yet been granted registration for concentrated religious activities. In addition, many people participate in the Church of God the Mother, Falun Gong (not recognized as a religion by the Vietnamese government), "Mystical Sound Method," "Bronze Drum Root Energy," "Unwavering Dao," etc.
Instead of organizing large-scale missionary activities as before, recently, illegal missionaries in Nghe An and some other provinces and cities have formed small groups in specific areas. This method aims to avoid detection by authorities, agencies, and local people.
If discovered, those engaging in illegal proselytization use the excuse of visiting relatives, preparing for rituals to ward off bad luck, or praying for good fortune for certain families. In addition, some religions are intensifying the distribution of illegal proselytizing materials, enticing and luring people through chat applications like Zalo, Messenger, Telegram, and Shen Yun Zuo Pin…
Authorities have also discovered instances of individuals exploiting charitable and humanitarian activities to illegally approach and proselytize while assisting people affected by natural disasters in some mountainous areas. Furthermore, many individuals are increasingly using social issues as a pretext for illegal proselytization.
Some individuals abroad use social media to illegally proselytize; spreading ideas that contradict morality, law, and the ideology of their home country. Through this, they aim to create "concerns" among the people and gradually "indoctrinate" them with illegal proselytizing content, inciting religious and ethnic conflicts.
Illegal missionary activities have significantly influenced the thinking of people in some regions; causing suspicion and conflict between some people (who have long lived peacefully) and various levels of government and organizations. At the same time, some foreign organizations are exploiting religious issues to carry out their "internal and external attacks" schemes, endangering security, order, and social safety in our country.
Recently, the "Boat People's Relief Committee" (BPSOS) has been thoroughly exploiting social media to undermine Vietnam under the guise of "religious surveys." This self-proclaimed organization was founded in 1980 by Phan Lac Tiep (born 1933), a former officer in the South Vietnamese Navy, and Nguyen Huu Xuong, a former professor at the University of San Diego. Its headquarters are located in San Diego, California (USA), with the initial purpose of assisting Vietnamese "refugees" in the United States. In 1990, the organization was transferred to Nguyen Dinh Thang (born 1958 in Ho Chi Minh City, a US citizen), who continued to run it.
Nguyen Dinh Thang and his accomplices regularly collected information related to religious beliefs in Vietnam. They organized seminars and discussion forums on social media with the theme "religious freedom in Vietnam"; established the so-called "Vietnam Civil Rights Project," and launched the "Vietnam Religious Survey Project," serving the purpose of undermining the Vietnamese government in cyberspace. A typical example is the terrorist attack that occurred on June 11, 2023, in Dak Lak; some Hmong religious leaders and followers of Protestantism, holding erroneous views, spread propaganda and condemned the Vietnamese government for "suppressing Protestantism"...
THE SUSPICIOUS DEDICATION OF PASTORS
According to the White Paper "Religion and Religious Policy in Vietnam," there are 43 organizations belonging to 16 religions recognized and registered by the State nationwide, with over 26.5 million followers, accounting for 27% of the country's population; more than 54,000 religious dignitaries, over 135,000 religious officials, and nearly 30,000 places of worship. The religions with the largest number of followers are Buddhism with approximately over 14 million followers, Catholicism with approximately 7 million followers, Hoa Hao Buddhism with approximately 1.5 million followers, Protestantism with approximately 1.21 million followers; and Cao Dai with approximately over 1.1 million followers...
In some localities in Nghe An province, Protestantism was active from 1928, then dispersed, and later re-emerged. The General Assembly of the Evangelical Church of Vietnam (Northern region) has repeatedly requested the Nghe An authorities to restore the organization and rebuild the Protestant church in Vinh city, but the necessary conditions have not been met for the authorities to resolve the issue.
In 1994, some Hmong people who had migrated to Laos converted to Protestantism and returned to Huoi Tu commune, Ky Son district, to engage in illegal Protestant missionary activities. At one point, 48 households with 331 Hmong people were Protestants. Later, due to the efforts of the government and the people in disseminating information and preventing illegal missionary activities, only 3 households with 21 people remained involved.
In the following years, Protestant activities illegally infiltrated the Hmong ethnic minority areas in Nghe An mainly through Hmong-language radio stations abroad, the internet, and a few cases of Hmong people visiting relatives in Laos and then returning to spread the faith. From there, more illegal Protestant missionary points emerged in some mountainous and border areas.
Despite the efforts of the government and people's organizations to combat it, illegal Protestant missionaries in Nghe An still find ways to form small groups, disperse their areas of operation, and entice naive and gullible people to join.
During the illegal proselytizing process, many Protestant priests, pastors, and members of other religions in the North dedicated themselves to Nghe An province, going to remote areas to conduct religious services… They did this entirely on their own and did not accept any “gratuities” from new converts. So where did they get the funding for their activities? Is there an organization behind them providing funding for these priests and pastors to operate “for free” like this?
