Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, center, seen here on March 16, 2007, arrives for a Great Chanting Ceremony at Vinh Nghiem Pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. Communist Vietnam's sometimes edgy relationship with religious freedom is being tested in a dispute over a monastery inhabited by Hanh's disciples (AP/file).
Vietnam says booting Buddhist monks not repression
Ben Stocking (AP)
HANOI, Vietnam — Buddhist monks following world-famous teacher Thich Nhat Hanh are being evicted from a Vietnamese monastery for failing to clear their activities with the government, an official said today, but he denied the dispute was about religious freedom.
Followers of Thich Nhat Hanh, who has sold more than one million books in the West, say the government is punishing them because their France-based leader suggested that his native Vietnam's communist government should abolish its control of religion. However, Bui Huu Duoc of the government's Committee on Religious Affairs, blamed the dispute on a failure to abide by local regulations and said it is normal for governments to oversee the operations of religious groups operating within their borders.
"Managing religious groups doesn't mean controlling them," Duoc, who oversees Buddhist affairs for the committee, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We're here to facilitate their efforts to do good things for the country."
However, Duoc did allow that officials were "very surprised" at postings on the main Web site for Hanh's main monastery in southern France calling for the government to disband religious police. Vietnam formally recognizes less than a dozen religions, and they are all required to register with the state. Hanh's followers have been asked to leave the Bat Nha monastery in the Central Highlands by early September. More>>
Ben Stocking (AP)
HANOI, Vietnam — Buddhist monks following world-famous teacher Thich Nhat Hanh are being evicted from a Vietnamese monastery for failing to clear their activities with the government, an official said today, but he denied the dispute was about religious freedom.
Followers of Thich Nhat Hanh, who has sold more than one million books in the West, say the government is punishing them because their France-based leader suggested that his native Vietnam's communist government should abolish its control of religion. However, Bui Huu Duoc of the government's Committee on Religious Affairs, blamed the dispute on a failure to abide by local regulations and said it is normal for governments to oversee the operations of religious groups operating within their borders.
"Managing religious groups doesn't mean controlling them," Duoc, who oversees Buddhist affairs for the committee, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We're here to facilitate their efforts to do good things for the country."
However, Duoc did allow that officials were "very surprised" at postings on the main Web site for Hanh's main monastery in southern France calling for the government to disband religious police. Vietnam formally recognizes less than a dozen religions, and they are all required to register with the state. Hanh's followers have been asked to leave the Bat Nha monastery in the Central Highlands by early September. More>>
