Participants included representatives of several ministries and sectors; members of the drafting committee; the editorial team of the amended Law on Belief and Religion; and experts and scientists.

In his opening remarks, Deputy Minister Nguyen Hai Trung said the current Law on Belief and Religion, although containing some provisions related to belief and religious activities conducted online, is no longer sufficient in the context of today’s digital transformation. He stressed that more specific articles and regulations are needed to manage belief and religious activities in cyberspace.

“The Law on Belief and Religion is a specialized law with its own particularities. Therefore, necessary contents must be incorporated into the Law. The key issue is how to include them appropriately and adequately, in order to avoid overlap or conflict with other laws,” Trung emphasized.

The draft law focuses on four policy groups: establishing principles and responsibilities of agencies, organizations, and individuals during religious activities in cyberspace; decentralizing management; adding state management measures; and simplifying administrative procedures while promoting digital transformation in the sector.

In the Law’s project dossier, the first policy has been specified through provisions on principles and responsibilities of agencies, organizations, and individuals when conducting belief and religious activities in cyberspace in Article 10 of the draft Law. 

At the same time, the draft adds definitions for the term “belief and religious activities in cyberspace” (Clause 17, Article 2), as well as provisions on international cooperation in the field of belief and religion (Article 4).

To ensure consistency within the legal system and facilitate implementation, the draft Law adds a definition of “belief and religious activities in cyberspace” consistent with the Law on Cybersecurity No116/2025/QH15, in which Clause 5, Article 2 defines the concept of “cyberspace.”

Accordingly, belief and religious activities in cyberspace are understood as activities carried out by organizations or individuals in a digital environment formed by interconnected network systems of information technology infrastructure, including telecommunications networks, the Internet, computer networks, information systems, information processing and control systems, and databases.

Thorough review needed 

At the conference, participants offered many opinions on regulations governing belief and religious activities in cyberspace. Many agreed that it is necessary to have provisions regulating such activities, but called for careful review to avoid overlap with the Law on Cybersecurity and other specialized laws such as the Law on Digital Transformation and the Law on Data.

Some participants suggested refining Article 10 to ensure legal consistency while clarifying the responsibilities of those managing and operating information channels and pages.

Nguyen Van Duy, representing the Department of Cybersecurity (Ministry of Public Security), said that religious activities in cyberspace are currently evolving in complex ways. Therefore, specific regulations in the Law are a new but necessary step. However, he noted that cyberspace is merely an environment, and management must remain consistent with cybersecurity laws.

Regarding the removal of violating information, some suggested stricter regulations on timeframes and violation classification. For content severely affecting national security and order, immediate removal should be required rather than within 24 hours.

Le Thi Lien, Director of the Institute for Strategic Policy at the Ethnic Academy, stated that regulations must protect the freedom of belief and religion while preventing and handling the abuse of religion to infringe upon national interests or social order.

According to several experts and managers, as this is a specific field, the Law should establish general guiding principles while referring to international experience. Technical measures should be relegated to sub-law documents to ensure flexibility in implementation.

Meanwhile, Dr. Bui Thanh Ha, former Deputy Head of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs, added that these regulations should also be incorporated into religious charters to affirm rights and manage religious activities in cyberspace effectively.

Thuy Hong