---
title: The Viet Cong Attack Religious Leaders, Destroy Pagodas and Churches
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/the-viet-cong-attack-religious-leaders-destroy-pagodas-and-churches-1965-1969/
description: An English-language sheet carries a photograph of a dead Buddhist monk, captioned as murdered by the Viet Cong in Vinh Binh Province.
section: Collection
---

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3. The Viet Cong Attack Religious Leaders, Destroy Pagodas and Churches

**Content note:** Photograph of the body of a Buddhist monk with visible wounds, captioned as issued as murdered by the Viet Cong in Vinh Binh Province. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![The Viet Cong Attack Religious Leaders, Destroy Pagodas and Churches, 1965 US poster: An English-language sheet carries](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/the-viet-cong-attack-religious-leaders-destroy-pagodas-and-churches-1965-1969.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/the-viet-cong-attack-religious-leaders-destroy-pagodas-and-churches-1965-1969.jpg)

# The Viet Cong Attack Religious Leaders, Destroy Pagodas and Churches

An English-language sheet carries a photograph of a dead Buddhist monk, captioned as murdered by the Viet Cong in Vinh Binh Province, above a photograph of seated monks at the Tra Dieu Temple beneath banners condemning the killing. The headline generalises from one named incident to 'religious leaders', 'pagodas and churches', and pairs a graphic image with a crowd of the victim's co-religionists protesting.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/) [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
THE VIET CONG ATTACK RELIGIOUS LEADERS, DESTROY PAGODAS AND CHURCHES.

BUDDHIST MONK OF TRA DIEU TEMPLE MURDERED BY VIET CONG IN VINH BINH PROVINCE.

Banner (Vietnamese): CỰC LỰC LÊN ÁN BỌN VIỆT CỘNG SÁT HẠI SƯ SÃI SƠN THƯƠNG TẠI CHÙA TRÀ ĐIỀU
Banner (left): [Khmer text, not transcribed]
Banner (right edge): [partial text in a non-Latin script, not transcribed]

Monks of the Tra Dieu Temple protest the murder of their colleague.
Their banner reads: STRONGLY CONDEMN THE VIET CONG FOR HAVING KILLED THE MONKS AND NUNS OF TRA DIEU PAGODA.
```

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

```
Banner (Vietnamese), literal: STRONGLY CONDEMN THE VIET CONG BAND WHO KILLED THE MONKS [Sơn Thương, as printed] AT TRÀ ĐIỀU PAGODA. The English text is as printed.
```

[← The Refugees Return](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/the-refugees-return-1965-1969/) [They Have Come Back! →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/they-have-come-back-1965-1969/)

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