Democratic Voice of Vietnam

The Government placed Nguyen Thanh Tam at the head of the 1997 Sect to ensure its role as an instrument of the government to repress independent Cao Dai followers and at the same time fool the international community that the Cao Dai Religion was thriving in Vietnam.

On November 16, 2015 the Legislative Body, which was the highest authority, of the Cao Dai Religion came out of its selfimposed suspension to denounce the 1997 Sect’s deception scheme:
“The actions of secularly appointed Cardinal Thuong Tam Thanh are against God’s
will, against the Holy Constitution because he was not divinely confirmed to be a
clergy member of the Cao Dai Religion at the Holy See in Tay Ninh; we therefore call
him by his secular name Nguyen Thanh Tam and not as Cardinal Thuong Tam
Thanh…”

The Legislative Body concludes: The Cao Dai 1997 Sect is a different faith…
“Nguyen Thanh Tam seized religious facilities of our religion from the central to the
local levels in order to steer the Great Way from its path, taking the people and
followers of the Cao Dai Religion on the path of heresy, betraying our solemn pledge
to the Supreme Being, and turning a divine religion into a worldly one.”

Nguyen Thanh Tam, in retaliation, disbanded the Legislative Body, closed its office, and evicted its members from the Tay Ninh Holy See, the administrative seat of the Cao Dai Religion.