Religions of Vietnam

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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