The Vietnamese Cao Đài diaspora began to settle in the USA in 1975, primarily as refugees escaping the socialist regime after Saigon’s fall. Like many refugees who deal with forced migration, the Cao Đài Vietnamese diaspora community had been transplanted into a foreign land, unfamiliar to their culture, lifestyle and religious tradition. For Caodaists, religion became a core component in maintaining an ethnic connection with their Vietnamese counterparts. The religion’s nationalist teachings had to be modified as they lost their homeland through the exile experience.