Talk:Cao Dai
From Academic Kids
They had some role in the Vietnam War. --Error 05:31, 11 Apr 2004 (UTC)
- AFAIK they had to suffer from the general anti-religious mentality after the war, but I have to do more research. Ravn 13:45, 11 Apr 2004 (UTC)
- found a snippet of information: "The importance of Cao Dai religion has been due in part to its standing army, which was involved in the Vietnam War" from Gall, Timothy L. (ed). Worldmark Encyclopedia of Culture & Daily Life: Vol. 3 - Asia & Oceania. Cleveland, OH: Eastword Publications Development (1998); pg. 808. -- does anybody have access to this source? Ravn 13:50, 11 Apr 2004 (UTC)
As far as I know the role of Cao Dai military groups (including several factions that split from the original hierarchy) in the Indochina wars was very significant, at least from the point of view of the U.S. and, earlier, Japan; for example see Trinh Minh The. This kind of thing definitely deserves a mention in the article, or possibly a separate article (it's not directly related to the religion as a religion - but kind of analogous to the way the Muslim conquest of North Africa was a key part of the early history of Islam). But as I don't have the sources, I'm afraid of getting it wrong. --—Hob←Talk 17:17, 2004 Aug 13 (UTC)
- The Cao Dai had been pro-Japanese during the 40's, supportive of the Nguyen pretender Cuong De before the August Revolution. They were allowed to rule their own area in return for a nominal support of the regime of former Emperor Bao Dai in the early 50's. This was the time they built up their private army. When U.S. was pushing Ngo Dinh Diem for president, Edward Lansdale bribed the Cao Dai general to betray the religion and the Pope had to flee into Cambodia. Later Diem, who was a Catholic intolerant of other religions, tried to wipe out the Cao Dai. After his government was collapsed, they started to rebuild and were used as counter-insurgent group by the American military. After the Communists took over they put strict controls on the Cao Dai, they have had no pope since then, but are ruled by pro-Communist council. NguyenHue 08:57, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)NguyenHue
