User:Dragfyre/Sandbox/Timeline of religion in Vietnam

The earliest forms of Vietnamese religious practice were animistic and totemic in nature.

Early history

 * c. 1000 BCE: The Dong Son culture flourishes in Vietnam's Red River Valley, producing the Dong Son bronze drums that certain archaeologists believe may have been produced in a religious context.
 * 300 BCE: Proselytizing Buddhist delegations are sent from India during the reign of Emperor Ashoka, some of whom are thought to have reached Vietnam.
 * c. 179 BCE: The Luy Lâu centre, a major Buddhist centre in the region, is founded in Bắc Ninh province, north of present-day Hanoi.
 * c. 100: The Hindu Kingdom of Funan is established in the Mekong Delta area.
 * c. 100: Buddhism comes to Vietnam, through the North from central Asia and China and through the South from Indian trade routes.
 * c. 189: Early Buddhist missionaries Mahajivaka (also known as Jivaka) and Kalacarya arrive together in Luy Lâu.
 * c. 194: Mau Bac (Mou Po in Chinese), fleeing Confucianist opposition in China, travels to Tonkin and propagates Buddhism by winning converts there.
 * c. 200: The central coast of Viet Nam was inhabited by the Chams, who had adopted elements of Indian political and religious culture.
 * 280: Khuong Tang Hoi, the founder of the Vietnamese Chan sect of Buddhism, dies. His fame as a translator of Buddhist sacred writings had a profound effect on the development of Vietnamese Buddhism, and led to the conversion of the King of Wu, Sun Quan, to Buddhism.
 * 294: Mahajivaka arrives at Luoyang, having travelled through Funan and Tonkin preaching about the Buddhist religion.
 * 300: Theravada Buddhism arrives from India into the southern Mekong Delta region, between 300-600 AD.
 * 380: Pham Ho Dat rises to the throne of Champa, becoming King Bhadravarman I; he would later build Hindu temples at My Son and Tra Kieu. At My Son, he established a god named Bhadresvara, whose name was a combination of the king's own name and that of the Hindu god of gods Shiva. The worship of the original god-king under the name Bhadresvara and other names continued through the centuries that followed.
 * c. 500: Zen adherents enter Vietnam from China.
 * c. 600: By the seventh century the Chinese governor of Tonkin, Liou Fang, was reporting that "One sees in Giao-Chau (North Vietnam) numerous eminent priests spreading Buddhism among all the people and also pilgrims flocking from all parts of Asia" (Le Thank Khoi, Le Viet-Nam, Historie et Civilization, Paris: 1955, p. 128).
 * 650: Uthman ibn Affan, the third Caliph of Islam, sent the first official Muslim envoy to Vietnam.
 * 875: King Indravarman II of Champa founds a new northern dynasty at Indrapura, (near Da Nang in modern Vietnam). Indravarman was the first Cham monarch to adopt Mahayana Buddhism as an official religion. At the center of Indrapura, he constructed a Buddhist monastery (vihara) dedicated to the bodhisattva Lokesvara.
 * c. 925: The period in which Buddhism reigned as the principal religion of Champa came to an end in approximately 925, at which time the Dong Duong Style also began to give way to subsequent artistic styles linked with the restoration of Shaivism as the national religion. Around this time, the center of Cham religion also shifted from Dong Duong back to Mỹ Sơn.
 * c. 971: Buddhism is recognized as an official religion of the Đinh Dynasty (968-980).
 * 974: Future Emperor of the Lý D‎ynasty, Lý Thái Tổ, is born in a Buddhist pagoda in Từ Sơn, Bắc Ninh Province.
 * 1009: The Lý D‎ynasty begins, which is partly brought about by an alliance with the Buddhist monkhood. Ly emperors patronize Mahayana Buddhism, in addition to traditional spirits.
 * 1072: In 1072, there was a temple dedicated to Confucius and his leading 72 disciples. Located in Hanoi, this temple was called the Temple of Literature.
 * 1169: Emperor Le-Anh-Ton (1138-1175) established a school for the study of the three religions, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.

Later Lê Dynasty (Early Lê): 1428–1527

 * 1428: The Later Lê Dynasty begins after 20 years of domination by the Chinese Ming Dynasty; Buddhism falls out of favour, and Confucianism takes its place as a favoured state religion.

Mạc Dynasty: 1527–1592

 * 1533: The first Catholic missionary, "a businessman named Ignatius", arrives in what is now Nam Ðịnh province.
 * 1550: Father Gaspar da Santa Cruz, a Catholic missionary, arrives in what is now Kiên Giang province.
 * 1558: Several Catholic priests, including Luís de Fonseca and Grégoire de la Motte, evangelized in the Central region of Vietnam.
 * 1583: Catholic missionaries Diego Doropesa and Pedro Ortiz evangelized in the coastal area of Quảng Ninh province.

Later Lê Dynasty (Restored Lê): 1533–1788

 * c. 1600: When Vietnam divides during this period, the Nguyen rulers of the south choose to support Mahayana Buddhism as an integrative ideology for the ethnically plural society of their kingdom, which is also populated by Chams and other minorities.
 * 1617: Portuguese missionary Francisco de Pina arrives in Vietnam.
 * 1625: Vietnam expels missionaries.
 * 1627: Alexander de Rhodes goes to Vietnam where in three years of ministry he baptizes 6,700 converts
 * 1645: After thirty years of work in Vietnam, the Jesuits are expelled from that country
 * 1773: Two Dominican order missionaries beheaded in Vietnam.
 * 1787: Catholic missionary Pigneau de Béhaine petitions the French government and organizes French military volunteers to aid Nguyễn Ánh in retaking lands lost to the Tây Sơn.

Early Nguyễn Dynasty: 1802-1887

 * 1807: Đoàn Minh Huyên, progenitor of the Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương movement, is born in Sa Đéc (now Đồng Tháp) province in Vietnam's Mekong Delta region.
 * 1802: Nguyen Anh comes to the throne of the first united Vietnam; he succeeds by quelling the Tayson rebellion in south Vietnam with help from Rama I in Bangkok, then takes over the north from the remaining Trinh. After coming to power, he creates a Confucianist orthodox state and is eager to limit the competing influence of Buddhism. He forbids adult men to attend Buddhist ceremonies.
 * 1820: Minh Mang becomes Emperor of Vietnam, further restricting Buddhism. He insists that all monks be assigned to cloisters and carry identification documents. He also places new restrictions on printed material and begins the persecution of Catholic  missionaries and converts that his successors (not without provocation) continue.
 * 1831: Ngô Lợi, founder of the An Giang-based Buddhist sect Tứ Ân Hiếu Nghĩa ("Four Debts of Gratitude"), is born.
 * 1849: Đoàn Minh Huyên, claiming that the Maitreya Buddha would soon appear in the That Son mountain range to rescue humankind, rises to prominence during a cholera epidemic in Southern Vietnam.
 * 1856: Đoàn Minh Huyên dies.
 * 1857: Emperor Tự Đức executes two Spanish Catholic missionaries.
 * September 1858: Under the pretext of protecting Catholic missionaries, France attacks the port of Tourane (present day Da Nang), causing significant damages, and occupying the city.
 * c. 1860: The Jewish Chronicle reports the existence of Jewish settlements in Saigon.

Early 20th Century: 1900–1939

 * 1911: Canadian missionary Robert A. Jaffray, a member of the Christian & Missionary Alliance, arrives in Da Nang in 1911, introducing Protestantism to Vietnam.
 * 1920: A Buddhist revival (Chan Hung Phat Giao) begins in an effort to reform and develop institutional Buddhism in Vietnam, which continues today.
 * 1924: Martha Root becomes the first Bahá'í teacher to visit Vietnam.
 * 1926: Cao Đài is established.
 * 1930: The Southern Buddhist Study Association (Hội Nam Kỳ Nghiên cứu Phật học) is founded.
 * 1932: The Annam Buddhist Study Association (An Nam Phật học Hội) is founded.
 * 1934: The Northern Buddhist Association (Hội Phật giáo Bắc Kỳ) is founded.

World War II: 1939–1945

 * 1939: Hòa Hảo, a religious tradition based on Buddhism and the teachings of the millenarian Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương movement, is founded in An Giang Province by Huỳnh Phú Sổ.
 * 1939: The American Jewish Committee estimates the combined population of the Jewish communities of Haiphong, Hanoi, Saigon and Tourane at approximately 1,000 individuals.
 * 1940: In early 1940, after a few weeks in retreat to compose and put on paper oracles, prayers and teachings, Hòa Hảo founder Huỳnh Phú Sổ launched a major campaign through the Mekong Delta. He recruited tens of thousands of converts to his movement, many of whom followed him around in his travels.
 * 1940: the anti-Semitic Vichy-France "Statute on Jews" was implemented in French Indo-China (Vietnam), leading to increased restrictions and widespread discrimination against Jews.
 * January 1945: The anti-Jewish laws previously established by Vichy France are repealed.
 * 1945: With Vietnam falling into a power vacuum, Huỳnh Phú Sổ orders the creation of armed units for campaigns against the local administration, landowners and French colonial forces; Hòa Hảo is seen as less of a religious and more of a military-political movement, as people such as landowners converted in the hope that they could buy protection.
 * September 9, 1945: A Hòa Hảo militia of 15,000 men, armed with hand-to-hand weapons, attacks the Việt Minh garrison at Cần Thơ. The Hòa Hảo are decimated; Huỳnh Phú Sổ’s brother and the brother of his commander Soái are captured and executed.

First Indochina War: 1945–1954

 * 1946: The 1946 Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam is adopted. This first Constitution contains no specific mention of policies regarding religion, except to note that one of its aims would be to "unite all people, regardless of race, sex, caste, religion," and that power belongs to the people of Vietnam, "regardless of race, sex, wealth, class, religion."
 * April 1947: Huỳnh Phú Sổ, founder of the Hòa Hảo sect, is caught and executed by southern Việt Minh forces. His body is dissected into many pieces and scattered, to prevent his followers from gathering them and turning them into an object of veneration or a shrine.
 * 1949: The Central Vietnamese Buddhist Association (Hội Tãng già Trung Việt) and the Buddhist Clergy Rectification Association of Northern Vietnam (Hội Chỉnh lý Tãng ni Bắc Việt)—later to be known as the Northern Vietnamese Buddhist Association (Hội Tãng già Bắc Việt)—are founded.
 * 1951: The Southern Vietnamese Buddhist Association (Hội Tãng già Nam Việt) is founded. A number of Buddhist organizations gather in Huế to establish the Vietnamese Confederation of Buddhist Associations (Tổng hội Phật giáo Việt Nam).
 * February 1954: Bahá'í teacher Shirin Fozdar visits Saigon, Vietnam to establish the Bahá'í Faith in that city.
 * 1954: Most of the 1,500 Jews living throughout Indochina (Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia) are said to have left after the defeat of the French, leaving behind no organized Jewish communal structure.
 * 1954: Following the defeat of the French and the rise to power of Communist forces, most buildings, land and other properties owned by religious groups in the North are taken over by the State.

Diem Era: 1954–1963

 * 1954: Operation Passage to Freedom: A CIA-backed propaganda campaign begins, intended to increase Ngô Đình Diệm's power base following the 1954 Geneva Conference. Using slogans such as "Christ has gone south" and "the Virgin Mary has departed from the North", the campaign influenced around 600,000 Northern Catholics to migrate south to flee impending religious persecution under communism.
 * September 23, 1954: Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam announces that he is reorganizing his government with participation of the Hoa Hao and Cao Dai sects.
 * February 22nd, 1955: Representatives of the Cao Dai, Hoa Hao, Dan Xa, Lien Minh and Binh Xuyen confessional forces (sects) meet at Tay Ninh and agree to form a "United Front" against Prime Minister Diem.
 * July 13, 1956: Lê Quang Vinh (also known as Ba Cụt), a Hòa Hảo military commander, is publicly beheaded in Cần Thơ.
 * 1957: Bahá'í marriage certificates are recognized in Vietnam.
 * 1958: Bahá'í teachers Dempsey and Adrienne Morgan come to Vietnam, and over succeeding years help to establish administrative procedures among the Local Spiritual Assemblies of Vietnam.
 * 1959: The government of South Vietnam arrests the entire Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Saigon, and expels Dempsey and Adrienne Morgan from the country.
 * January 1, 1960: The 1959 Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam is adopted. Article 26 in Chapter 3 of this constitution states that citizens "enjoy freedom of religious belief; they may practice or not practice a religion". Article 23 also guarantees the right to vote and stand for election, regardless of "nationality, race, sex, social origin, religion, belief," among other criteria.
 * 1961: Rúhíyyih Khanum, the wife of the late Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith, the Shoghi Effendi, visits Saigon, and Bahá'í teachers Dempsey and Adrienne Morgan are permitted to return.
 * 1963: The Evangelical Church of Vietnam North (ECVN) is recognized by the government of North Vietnam.

Buddhist Crisis: May–November 1963

 * May 8, 1963: The Huế Phật Đản shootings: Nine unarmed Buddhist civilians are shot and killed by army and security forces of Ngô Đình Diệm's government, inciting the Buddhist crisis.
 * June 3, 1963: The Huế chemical attacks: Soldiers of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) pour liquid chemicals from tear gas grenades onto the heads of praying Buddhists in Huế.
 * June 11, 1963: Thích Quảng Đức, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, burns himself to death at a busy Saigon road intersection to protest Ngô Đình Diệm's persecution of Buddhists.
 * August 5, 1963: A second Buddhist monk commits suicide by fire in protest against Diem’s administration.
 * August 21, 1963: The Xa Loi Pagoda raids, a series of synchronized attacks on Buddhist pagodas in the major cities of South Vietnam, take place shortly after midnight.
 * November 1, 1963: President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam is deposed by a group of Army of the Republic of Vietnam officers over his handling of the Buddhist crisis.

Post-Diem Era: 1963–1975

 * 1964: The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Vietnam was established.

Early Communist era: 1975–1986

 * 1975: A number of religious organizations are banned following Communist victory in the South, including the Muslim Association of Vietnam and the Baha'i Faith. Most buildings, land and other properties owned by religious groups in the South are taken over by the State.
 * December 19, 1980: The 1980 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is adopted. Similar to the 1959 Constitution, Article 68 states that citizens enjoy freedom of belief, and may follow any religion or follow none; unlike the previous Constitution, however, it also states that no one may use religion to contravene the laws and policies of the State.
 * 1981: The officially sanctioned Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) was established incorporating all Mahayana, Theravada, and Bhikshu Buddhism under its umbrella.

Doi Moi era: 1986–2001

 * 1987: After a period of prohibition, the Vietnamese government relaxes restrictions on the practice of spirit mediumship rituals, known as lên đồng, and a gradual recurrence in popularity begins.
 * April 15, 1992: The 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is adopted. Similar to previous Constitutions, Article 70 in Chapter 5 of this Constitution states that citizens shall "enjoy freedom of belief and of religion" and may "follow any religion or follow none". However, the same article contains new provisions stating that "all religions are equal before the law", and that "places of worship of all faiths and religions are protected by the law".
 * 1992: Restrictions on a number of religious groups are relaxed, including the Muslim and Baha'i faiths; said groups are allowed by authorities to meet in unofficial meeting halls.
 * 1995: A small branch of Cao Dai known as Thien Tien is granted legal recognition.
 * 1997: The Tay Ninh Cao Dai branch is granted legal recognition.
 * 1999: The government-recognized Hoa Hao Administrative Committee (HHAC) was organized. Several leaders of the Hoa Hao community, including several pre-1975 leaders, openly criticized the committee as subservient to the government; dissenting groups formed two smaller churches, the Traditional Hoa Hao Church and the Pure Hoa Hao Church.

21st century: 2001-present

 * 2001: The Southern Evangelical Church of Vietnam (SECV) is officially recognized by the Vietnamese government.
 * 25 December 2001: Amendments to the 1992 Constitution clarifies the National Assembly's power to decide "State policies on ethnic minorities and on religions".
 * 2002: The Russian Orthodox parish of Our Lady of Kazan opens in Vung Tau.
 * 2004: The 2004 Ordinance on Religion and Belief (Ordinance) serves as the primary document governing religious practice.
 * 2004: Baha'i members in Ho Chi Minh City were allowed to hold a quiet ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the Baha'i Faith in the country in May 2004.
 * Spring 2005: The Hoa Hao Administrative Council was expanded and renamed the Executive Committee of Hoa Hao Buddhism.
 * 2005: The 2005 Prime Minister's "Instruction on Some Tasks Regarding Protestantism" (Instruction) calls on authorities to facilitate the requests of recognized Protestant denominations to construct churches as well as to train and appoint pastors.
 * 2005: Implementing Decree 22, also issued in 2005, provides further guidance on the Ordinance on Religion and Belief. It delineates specific procedures by which an unrecognized religious organization may register its places of worship, its clerics, and its activities and thus operate openly. It provides procedures for these groups to apply for official recognition from the government to gain additional rights.
 * 2006: Vietnam's largest mosque opens in January in Xuan Loc, Dong Nai Province.
 * 2007: The United World Mission Church (UWMC) is formally recognized.
 * 2007: The Bahá'í Faith, Tu An Hieu Nghia, and the Vietnamese Pure Land Buddhism Association are officially registered with the Vietnamese government; the Baptist and Mennonite movements are officially recognized. At this time, Ngo Yen Thi, head of the Committee for Religious Affairs, stated: "The State policy on religion respects and ensures freedom of belief and religion for all Vietnamese citizens as stipulated in the country’s first constitution in 1946 and in revised versions".
 * December 2009: For the first time, the president of Vietnam traveled to the Vatican and met the Pope. The Vatican called it "a significant stage in the progress of bilateral relations with Vietnam."

Notes and references

 * Notes


 * References


 * Bibliography
 * Barrett, David, ed. World Christian Encyclopedia, Oxford University Press, 1982
 * Neill, Stephen. A History of Christian Missions. Penguin Books, 1986
 * Nguyen, Cuong Tu. Zen in Medieval Vietnam: A Study of the Thiền Uyển Tập Anh. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997.
 * Nguyen, Cuong Tu. Zen in Medieval Vietnam: A Study of the Thiền Uyển Tập Anh. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997.
 * Nguyen, Cuong Tu. Zen in Medieval Vietnam: A Study of the Thiền Uyển Tập Anh. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997.
 * Nguyen, Cuong Tu. Zen in Medieval Vietnam: A Study of the Thiền Uyển Tập Anh. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997.