University of Social Sciences and Humanities co-organized a conference on religion and the rule of law in Washington DC

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh, PrincipalThe school led a delegation to attend the workshop, including scientists and managers from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, the National Assembly's Committee on Education, Youth and Children, the Government's Committee for Religious Affairs, the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and the Central Committee of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha.

The main purpose of the workshop is to exchange practices of the United States and other countries in the management, registration, recognition of religions, issues of church property ownership, new types of religions and religious activities of foreign citizens, thereby helping Vietnam gain more experience in preparing to build and promulgate a new law on religion and belief.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh speaks at the conference/Photo: Van Hieu

At the opening session of the workshop, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Van Khanh delivered a speech emphasizing the importance of religion and law in the development of political and social life in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country like Vietnam. Since implementing the renovation policy, Vietnam has achieved many achievements in building a rule-of-law and religious state. The perception of religion as well as religious life in Vietnam has increasingly undergone important changes. In 2004, the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam passed the Ordinance on Belief and Religion. In 2013, the amended Constitution of Vietnam affirmed the legality of human rights, contributing to accelerating the process of social democratization and economic, political and cultural reforms of the country. This year, the National Assembly of Vietnam also decided to build the first law on religion and belief in Vietnam.

The speech also affirmed that Vietnam wants to learn from the United States - the country that first introduced a secular state model and has extensive experience in dealing with religious issues - in building a religious state of law. This conference is an opportunity for Vietnamese and American scientists to share research results and make recommendations for comparative research on the relationship between Religion and Law. These results will contribute positively to promoting the building of a socialist state of law on religion in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese delegation took a souvenir photo with foreign delegates/Photo: Van Hieu

After the opening session, scholars from Vietnam and the United States presented papers and discussed in-depth sessions on specific topics:

- Constitutional and legal framework for religious activities in Vietnam and the United States.

- Academic perspectives on religion and the rule of law from the perspective of International Law, Vietnamese Law and US Law.

- Faith community perspectives on religion and the rule of law.

- Views from law enforcement officials on religion and the rule of law.

- Legislative views on religion and the rule of law.

- Experience in drafting major laws on religious relations and rule of law.

- Establish and implement laws and regulations related to religion and the rule of law.

This workshop is one of many cooperative activities between the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Brigham Young University and the Institute for Global Engagement (USA). Since 2012, the University has coordinated to organize 3 training courses on knowledge of religion and the rule of law for lecturers of universities, colleges and religious officials in Hanoi (2012), Ho Chi Minh City (2013) and Da Nang (2014). In June 2013, the parties also coordinated to organize the Vietnam - US Dialogue Forum on Religious Freedom in Washington DC.