The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) uses state-controlled religious organizations to control religious life and to intimidate and pressure independent religious communities into submission. A state-controlled religious organization is a religious group or institution that operates under the direct influence, supervision, or control of the government. The government exercises significant authority over these organizations, including leadership appointments, property matters, religious practices, and even doctrinal interpretation. This report examines six state-controlled religious organizations. It also documents how the CPV and the Vietnamese government utilize three key Party and government organizations, several laws, and three overarching strategies—substitution, co-opting, and infiltration—to control religious life through state-controlled religious organizations.

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