RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: CAO DAI: PRIEST OR PUPPETS?

UNCLAS HO CHI MINH CITY 000739

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/BCLTV and DRL/IRF

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINS SOCI KIRF VM RELFREE HUMANR
SUBJECT: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: CAO DAI: PRIEST OR PUPPETS?



1. (SBU) Summary: Leaders of the GVN-recognized Tay Ninh Cao Dai
sect, a once anti-Communist, autonomous religious and social
organization, maintain that they have an excellent relationship
with the GVN. They praised the GVN for its support of the Cao Dai
religion and said the new legal framework on religion was a
significant step forward. Former Cao Dai leaders turned
dissidents argue that the 1997 charter that is the basis for the
group's legal recognition imposes GVN control over the
organization and distorts key tenets of the religion. GVN policy
towards the Cao Dai mirrors that of the Government toward the Hoa
Hao and Buddhists, and is an outgrowth of the Party's desire to
monitor all aspects of Vietnamese society and maintain one-Party
rule. End Summary.

Who are the Cao Dai?
--------------


2. (U) The Cao Dai religion was established in southern Vietnam by
Ngo Van Chieu in Tay Ninh Province in 1926. The faith is a fusion
of secular and religious philosophies from both the east and west,
combining Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism with Vietnamese
spiritualism, Christianity, and Islam. One of the central tenets
of the Cao Dai is the use of spiritual mediums including seances.
At the outset, the wealth and popularity of Cao Daism gave the
organization significant political and military autonomy in Tay
Ninh until the 25,000-member Cao Dai army was incorporated into
the Army of the Republic of South Vietnam. Like the Hoa Hao in
the Mekong Delta, the Cao Dai were nationalistic, but strongly
anti-Communist. Following the war, all Cao Dai lands in Vietnam
were confiscated, though the Holy See compound in Tay Ninh and 400
temples were later returned in 1985.


3. (U) The Cao Dai claim six million adherents worldwide including
34 provinces in Vietnam. (Note: The Government Committee for
Religious Affairs puts the number at 2.4 million. End note.) There
are six different forms of Cao Daism that are officially
recognized by the GVN, with another six that are unrecognized.
There is little doctrinal difference between the groups, however.
The principal Cao Dai organization with the majority of followers,
upwards of 700,000, is centered in Tay Ninh and Ho Chi Minh City.
As part of its formal GVN recognition in 1997, the Tay Ninh Cao
Dai adopted a new charter, which established a 72-member Central
Executive Council. The Cao Dai also have a parallel religious
structure with bishops, cardinals, and a Pope. The last Cardinal
died in the mid-1980s. The positions of Pope and Cardinal, which
are historically filled through spiritual mediums, remain vacant
as a result of a GVN prohibition on seances. The Pope and
Cardinals serve as the executors of religious doctrine that is
promulgated by the Executive Council. In the absence of a Pope,
the Chairman of the Council, Archbishop Thuong Tam Thanh, acts as
the religious executor. Tam Thanh has been Chairman of the
Executive Council since 1999.

The Official Cao Dai Church Praises the GVN
--------------


4. (U) In separate meetings, Chairman Tam Thanh and HCMC Cao Dai
representative Thuong Minh Thanh portrayed their relationship with
GVN officials at the national and local levels as excellent. The
two leaders claimed that even before Vietnam adopted its new legal
framework on religion, the Cao Dai never had a problem with GVN
interference in internal issues such as ordination or promotion of
clergy. The new legal framework will only improve conditions for
the church as it provides more specificity for government
officials in regulating religious activity. Minh Thanh also
lauded GVN support for the ongoing effort to repatriate the
remains of the Holy See Conservator, Pham Cong Tac, who died in
Cambodia during the war. Despite GVN support since April 2004,
the Cambodian government has not yet agreed to the repatriation.


5. (U) In May 2005, the Executive Council expelled five senior
members of the Cao Dai church in HCMC because, according to
Chairman Tam Thanh, the adherents failed to follow the
instructions of the Cao Dai leadership when participating in
burial ceremonies. The expelled members placed the deceased in
caskets according to religious rules that existed prior to 1997.
Minh Thanh added that the followers were expelled because they
accused the Executive Council of changing the Cao Dai's religious
rites and for sending "inciting, critical, insulting, and
disrespectful" letters to Chairman Tam Thanh.

Dissidents Protest GVN "Control"
--------------


6. (SBU) In a series of meetings in his church, Cao Dai dissident
Le Quang Tan (strictly protect),who serves as mentor to the
ousted five, said that the expulsions were designed to cement GVN
control over the Cao Dai church. Le stated that the GVN "borrows
the Executive Council to deal with the people they don't like."
The five expelled church leaders were protesting that the

Executive Council and the HCMC Cao Dai leadership had bowed to GVN
authority on matters of internal church administration and
religious practice. He and the five were demanding that Cao Daism
return to its original charter, which would permit seances, dilute
the power of the Chairman of the Executive Council and allow for
the selection of a Cao Dai Pope and Cardinals. The GVN
prohibition on seances does not allow adherents to gather
religious doctrine from a supreme being. Now, the Executive
Council decides religious doctrine and leadership. Separately,
Tay Ninh dissident Archbishop Thuong Nha Thanh (also strictly
protect) expressed similar beliefs on the 1997 charter and argued
that the original religious structure would prevent GVN control
over the Cao Dai. (Nha Thanh was the highest-ranking Archbishop
prior to 1975. He had the authority equivalent to the current
Executive Council Chairman.)


7. (U) Tam Thanh and Minh Thanh rejected arguments that the 1997
Charter fundamentally changed the precepts of Cao Daism,
explaining that the only changes were administrative. While the
titles of certain clergy were changed, they retained similar
functions and responsibilities. They also stated that the GVN
prohibition on seances is immaterial because the major principles
of the religion have been passed down by spiritual mediums already
and continuous use of spiritism has the potential for abuse. Minh
Thanh described the change in the burial ceremony as "a small
change" but stated that it still required strict compliance.
Archbishop Nha Thanh agreed with this assessment that the
ceremonial change was small but considered the action of the
Executive Council harsh for the infraction of ceremonial
procedures.


8. (SBU) Le also discussed his concerns about his deteriorating
relationship with the Executive Council and Ho Chi Minh City
authorities. Members of the Executive Council routinely monitor
his visitors. After a visit by ConGen officers last month,
Ministry of Public Security officials interviewed him on seven or
eight occasions. Although very frail, the 80-year old cleric
remained firm in his demand for greater autonomy, despite police
pressure and threats from the Ho Chi Minh City Cao Dai Executive
Council to expel him from the church where he now resides. (Le
was previously the legal inspector and religious historian of the
church. His position was "suspended" in 1997, when the Cao Dai
adopted its new charter.)

Comment:
--------------


9. (SBU) Unlike other religious communities with a similar history
of opposing the Communist Party, the official Cao Dai enjoy a
somewhat more amicable relationship with the GVN. This is in
large part due to the open dialogue that they have cultivated on
the national level and the lack of a compelling dissenting leader.
It is clear from meetings that the GVN has a quiet control over
the administrative bodies of the official Cao Dai and makes it
difficult to express true dissent. While the call for a pre-1997
Charter appears at first blush to be disagreement on semantics as
the Executive Council Chairman represents, it can be more
accurately described as a call for religious autonomy by
dissenters. GVN policy towards the Cao Dai mirrors their
treatment toward other organizations - establishing and monitoring
its leadership - and is an outgrowth of the Party's desire to
monitor all aspects of Vietnamese society and maintain one-Party
rule.

KELLEY


NNNN