More vigilance is needed to reduce the serious consequences of superstition in Vietnam

There are many people who take advantage of this superstition to commit acts of property appropriation. That is the content of the judgment 34/2017/HS-ST dated September 13, 2017 on the crime of fraudulently appropriating property.

Defendant Pham Thi C took advantage of the superstition of the victims to commit fraud on appropriate property. With acts such as "casting spells" to cure diseases, make bronzes, and make charms C, she has been performed 8 times and appropriated the victims' property with the amount of more than 60,000,000 VND.

Liability that the defendant bears:

+ 03 years in prison for the crime of "fraudulent appropriation of property" specified in Article 139, the Criminal Code 1999

+ Compensating the entire amount of fraud to victims according to Articles 584, 585, 586, 589 and Article 357 of the Civil Code 2015

With C's behavior, if it is not related to a large amount of money that is criminally liable, it can also cause C to be administratively liable.

According to Clause 2, Article 15, Decree 158/2013/ND-CP stipulating penalties for administrative violations in the fields of culture, sports, tourism and advertising

2. A fine of from 3,000,000 VND to 5,000,000 VND shall be imposed for one of the violations below:

a) Taking advantage of superstitious activities such as séance, fortune telling, etc. to earn illegal profits.

….

This is not the first and not the only time we talk about superstition. Newspapers and newspapers often report on superstitions or cases of fortune-tellers using healing tricks and the serious consequences it causes, but many people still come to them for treatment.

Compared to the damage, the above victims are still called lucky because there are many other victims who have to bear heavier consequences.

It's also due to fortune tellers that cause divorce

Superstition leads to family conflict, resulting in the couple taking each other to court and getting a divorce. You can see more here: Judgment 06/2018/HNGĐ-ST on divorce and child custody disputes upon divorce and Judgment 11/2017/HNGĐ-PT dated December 21, 2017 on divorce disputes and raise children.

Moreover, believing in divination blindly causes many people to cause discord and conflicts in the family. In some cases, although they have lived together for many years, there is still a case where a person listens to a fortune teller saying that they are not age appropriate and insists on a divorce.

Superstition seriously affects health and life

Besides the superstitious forms that are a waste of money and time, listening to the "teacher" is even more harmful and dangerous.

Like a tragic case that happened in District 5, Ho Chi Minh City about believing in fortune tellers and killing sons. According to this case, the mother killed her son just because he had a disease that couldn't be cured in many places and believed that "the teacher" thought that the child was "holy possessed", so she invited someone to come and chant and perform the funeral ceremony to "enter the saint" for the child by wrapping a rope around his neck and squeezing it, causing him to die.

Fortune-telling in particular or superstition in general is not easy to remove it from social life in a short time. However, we need to be more alert in recognizing the harmful effects of divination and superstition. Humans cannot live without faith, but that belief must be built on the basis of correct perception, processed by scientific thinking, and have a positive impact on personal development, in order to pass that the whole society towards the good things.

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