tailieunhanh - Religious transformation in Vietnam in the context of international integration

The religious transformation in Vietnam in the context of international integration has raised some issues, such as preservation and conservation of Vietnamese traditional cultural values generally and religious values particularly. | Religious Transformation in Vietnam. Religious Transformation in Vietnam in the Context of International Integration Chu Van Tuan * Abstract: Impacts caused by globalization and international integration have led to changes in Vietnam religious life in various dimensions. The paper presents some religious changes in three fundamental aspects, namely: faith, practice and community. In terms of faith, religious transformation is shown most obviously via religious conversion (or change in faith); In terms of practice, it is shown via some factors such as characteristics, scale, degree etc.; In terms of community, there is emergence of new religious communities, especially in the North-west, the Central Highlands, and the South-west. The religious transformation in Vietnam in the context of international integration has raised some issues, such as preservation and conservation of Vietnamese traditional cultural values generally and religious values particularly. Key words: Transformation; integration; international; religious; globalization. 1. Introduction International integration is an inevitable process, resulting from objective factors and internal needs of nations as well. Together with globalization, international integration creates development opportunities for nations involved. Besides, international integration causes risks and challenges. For example, national independence and sovereignty may be violated; cultural identities may fade out; and, traditional values may be eroded, etc. International integration unavoidably results in changes in many dimensions of social life, including changes in religious faith, about which the author would like to outline some main features in this paper. In Vietnam, international integration started more than 20 years ago. Owing to the renovation (Đổi mới), a socialist-oriented market economy was built and international integration were carried out, bringing great positive changes to economic, political, cultural, and .