Over the past time, legitimate and legal needs of religious organisations and individuals for building, repairing and upgrading worship places have received timely attention from all-level Party Committees and authorities along with guidance and prompt handling right from the grassroots level, creating consensus between the authorities and organisations.
Various cities and provinces have conducted planning to ensure land for religious needs, and handed over land for the construction of many worship places.
The 2013 Constitution affirms that "everyone has the right to freedom of belief and religion, and has the right to follow any religion or to follow no religion. All religions are equal before law. The State respects and protects the right to freedom of belief and religion; no one may violate the freedom of belief and religion nor may anyone take advantage of a belief and religion in order to violate the law.to break the law."
Chairman of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs Vu Hoai Bac stressed that the State creates optimal conditions for religious organisations to repair, upgrade and build worship places. According to him, most worship places of religions have been upgraded, many new ones have been built, and hundreds of hectares of land have been given to religious organisations for the construction of facilities, meeting people’s legitimate needs.
The official took the central province of Quang Tri as an example, which provided 19 hectares of land for the expansion of the La Vang Pilgrimage Centre. Authorities in the northern city of Hai Phong also provided 10,000 sq.m for the construction of a nursing home for local Catholic priests and followers. The northern province of Ninh Binh provided 15,000 sq.m of land for a pastoral centre of the Phat Diem diocese. Thua Thien-Hue province in the central region gave 20 hectares of land to the Vietnam Buddhist Academy in Hue city. The central city of Da Nang handed over 6,000 sq.m of land to the Vietnam Christian Mission.
Principal Archbishop Huynh Thanh Phong, Standing Vice Chairman of Tien Thien Cao Dai Church’s Executive Committee, said more than 80% of worship places of the Cao Dai sect have been either upgraded or rebuilt.
Between 2016 and 2019, a total of 1,430 new facilities for the practice of beliefs and religions were built, and 576 others renovated and upgraded. In the first half of this year, all-level authorities licensed the construction and upgrading of 152 worship places of religions.
Such upgrading and building have been conducted in line with the construction law and other relevant legal documents.
As of the end of 2020, there were 50,703 works dedicated to religion or belief nationwide, of which 15,205 were rated or included in the lists of relic sites by provincial People’s Committees, and 29,801 religious facilities.
The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) alone had 18,544 monasteries, including 15,871 of Mahayana Buddhism and 462 pagodas of Khmer Theravada Buddhism.
According to a 2019 land survey of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, religious communities and establishments are using 599,741 hectares of land, accounting for 1.81% of the total area allocated to users, up 198,632 hectares as compared with the 2014 figure. Of the land, 549,706 ha were forestry land, 3,640 hectares were farming land, 13,211 hectares belonged to religious establishments and 7,113 hectares belonged to belief establishments.
The number of land use right certificates issued has also increased significantly, helping tighten the State management over land, ensure legality, and partially meet the demands and aspirations of religious establishments, making it easier for them to exercise the rights of land users.
As of early 2021, up to 15,174 out of 20,215 religious establishments in 49 cities and provinces had received land use right certificates./.
Q.Hoa t.h / TTXVN
