RELIGIOUS LIFE IN PRESENT-DAY TAIWAN
185
Due to modern education and a more scientific approach to life, many tenets of the average religious beliefs of the people are now being questioned or even rejected.18 This is perhaps most noticeable among the younger generation, but is certainly not restricted to them. When anthropologists describe the religious beliefs and practices of China, they actually present an idealistic state of affairs: these are the beliefs and practices of the group as a whole or even of a minority amongst the whole community. The degree of participation varies greatly for individual members. An example is my observations made at a temple festival in Feng-yüan. Many of the morning worshippers were older ladies accompanied by a younger woman: obviously mothers-in-law with their sons' wives. It was quite hilarious to notice how the younger women were gradually introduced to the correct procedure of worship and sacrifice; they obviously did not know the rituals. As young adults growing up in a gradually secularized society they most probably rarely visited temples, but once incorporated into their husbands' families, they had the new duty to learn the rituals and continue the family traditions.
Religion therefore is still meaningful for the community as a whole. Although the degree of acceptance of doctrinal beliefs may differ in each individual, the group as a whole maintains the religious rituals: they are a means of group celebration to manifest joy and social coherence and therefore they remain meaningful and even necessary for the mental health of a population ever more pressed by the demands of an industrialized age.
3. Characteristics of religion in Taiwan
It is hard to define characteristics of an entity that is so wide and encompassing as Chinese religion, but it is worth trying, as long as one keeps in mind that it is a subjective appraisal, open to criticism. Many characteristics of religion in Taiwan are probably generally Chinese and have already been observed and analysed in the past. If that is the case, I shall merely mention it but not go into detail. Some characteristics, however, even if they are pan-Chinese, need further attention since they may be even more striking for modern Taiwan, or since they have not been sufficiently analysed in the overall context of Chinese religion. One such characteristic that I see as basic and most essential with regard to
RELIGIOUS LIFE IN PRESENT-DAY TAIWAN
185
Due to modern education and a more scientific approach to life, many tenets of the average religious beliefs of the people are now being questioned or even rejected.18 This is perhaps most noticeable among the younger generation, but is certainly not restricted to them. When anthropologists describe the religious beliefs and prac- tices of China, they actually present an idealistic state of affairs: these are the beliefs and practices of the group as a whole or even of a minority amongst the whole community. The degree of par- ticipation varies greatly for individual members. An example is my observations made at a temple festival in Feng-yüan. Many of the morning worshippers were older ladies accompanied by a youn- ger woman: obviously mothers-in-law with their sons' wives. It was quite hilarious to notice how the younger women were gradually introduced to the correct procedure of worship and sacrifice; they obviously did not know the rituals. As young adults growing up in a gradually secularized society they most probably rarely visited temples, but once incorporated in their husbands' families, they had the new duty to learn the rituals and continue the family traditions.
Religion therefore is still meaningful for the community as a whole. Although the degree of acceptance of doctrinal beliefs may differ in each individual, the group as a whole maintains the reli- gious rituals: they are a means of group celebration to manifest joy and social coherence and therefore they remain meaningful and even necessary for the mental health of a population ever more pressed by the demands of an industrialized age.
3. Characteristics of religion in Taiwan
It is hard to define characteristics of an entity that is so wide and encompassing as Chinese religion, but it is worth trying, as long as one keeps in mind that it is a subjective appraisal, open to criticism. Many characteristics of religion in Taiwan are pro- bably generally Chinese and have already been observed and analy- sed in the past. If that is the case, I shall merely mention it but not go into detail. Some characteristics, however, even if they are pan- Chinese, need further attention since they may be even more strik- ing for modern Taiwan, or since they have not been sufficiently analysed in the overall context of Chinese religion. One such characteristic that I see as basic and most essential with regard to
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