Accompanying the nation and living by the principle of “serving both faith and society,” more than 27 million religious followers in Vietnam have made significant contributions to patriotic emulation movements, social welfare initiatives, humanitarian activities, and charitable work. Looking back over the past decade, Conclusion No. 02/KL-MTTW-ĐCT issued by the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) has more clearly defined the requirements for innovation in religious and belief affairs: placing the people, including religious communities, at the center; focusing strongly on grassroots engagement and staying close to the people; promoting the positive cultural and moral values and resources of religions; and contributing to strengthening social consensus in a new stage of national development.

With a cultural habit of going to pray at worship places thousands of years, plenty of Hanoians headed to temples and pagodas around midday on April 23 – the first day after social distancing measures have been relaxed amid the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic.