a Vietnamese student says they have no religion, what does this mean?

Question

a Vietnamese student says they have no religion, what does this mean?

Answer 1

Before the 10th century, most Vietnamese simply practice ancestor worshiping in the same manner as the Chinese. After the 10th century, by imperial decree, the nation adopted Buddhism as the official state religion so each village erected at least one Buddhist temple/pagoda and most people dutifully claimed themselves as "Buddhists" but they are to this day not practicing the religion frequently and consistently the way the Thais, Burmese, Cambodians and Laotians do.



Most Vietnamese go on to practice ancestor worshiping even as they claim to be Buddhists. In fact, Buddhism even incorporates this feature into the Buddhist practice just to be in harmony with the local tradition. Recently, even the Catholic Church has allowed ancestor worshiping for those Vietnamese who are Catholics.



Since ancestor worshiping is not defined as a "religion", the student was technically correct in saying he had none. It could also mean he's a communist and therefore an atheist but even most of the Vietnamese Communists do practice ancestor reshipping! So it really goes back to the century-old Vietnamese/Chinese traditions and not so much Communism.

Answer 2

Atheist.

Answer 3

Some of them (incl. me) don't have religion at all. They ain't atheist, or "don't believe in any religion"....they just feel free about it. Because my mom is a Christian, my dad is a Buddhist, so I didnt pick any of them.

Answer 4

Some people don't believe in God, Buddha, Angel or any God... but they are not communists..

Answer 5

He is probably a Communist and doesn't believe in an All Mighty God. Cheers

Answer 6

Did you make sure that he understood what you mean by 'religion'? He may be an athiest. Only around 10% of Vietnamese are Christian. Most of the people do not believe in any Gods. Many of Budhists in Vietnam do not practice and religious, especially the youngsters (it seems not a real religion even they don't think so). If one has no religion, it doesn't mean he's a communist.