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RELIGIONS OF VIETNAM |
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The moral and religious life of most Vietnamese people is governed
by a mixture of Confucian, Mahayana Buddhist and Taoist teachings
interwoven with ancestor worship and ancient, animistic practices.
Vietnam also has small Hindu, Muslim and Theravada Buddhist communities,
as well as the second largest Catholic congregation in Southeast Asia,
after the Philippines. For an introduction to all these faiths . After
1975, the Marxist-Leninist government of reunified Vietnam declared the
state atheist: churches and pagodas were closed down and religious
leaders sent for re-education. Since 1986 the situation has eased, and
many Vietnamese are once again openly practising their faith.
No matter what their religion, virtually every Vietnamese household will
maintain an ancestral altar for rituals associated with ancestor worship
, which is based on the principles of filial piety and obligation to the
past, present and future generations. Residual animism plus a whole host
of spirits borrowed from other religions further complicate Vietnam's
mystical world, in which the universe is divided into three realms - the
sky, earth and man - under the overall guardianship of Ong Troi, Lord of
Heaven.
Up to two-thirds of the Vietnamese population consider themselves
Mahayana Buddhists , while at the same time adhering to a Confucian
philosophy, whose emphasis on conformity and duty has played an
essential role in Vietnam's political, social and educational systems.
Many Taoist deities have been absorbed into other more mainstream cults,
in particular Mahayana Buddhism.
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