Governments can be divided into four groups according to their respect for religious freedom. To achieve the highest level, Taiwan needs to resolve the Taijimen Incident.
Written by Hans Noot*
*Paper presented at the conference “Remembering the Battle of the Sims: Conscience and the Taijimen Incident” held in Pasadena, California, April 5, 2024.
Today’s events are both common and unique around the world. Commemorating the death of a loved one is a common occurrence in human life. But what is unique is that such commemorations always focus on a specific person. In this case, Mrs. Yu Meizhong. And each person is unique. Each person’s life experience is unique, and so is our relationship with each individual. And of particular importance to these events, like the birth of a child, is the celebration of the intersection between physical life and life beyond mortality. When a child is born, we look at their body and are awed by the way it thinks, learns, moves, and makes sounds. There resides the soul that creates life. In fact, spirit, or in Hebrew “ruach” or “nefesh” or “neshama”, means the breath of life, that which breathes life and gives vitality. And this breath of life is observed everywhere in nature. At the same time, when someone dies, their soul leaves the physical realm and the body becomes lifeless.
That is especially the strength of spiritual movements like Tai Chi and countless religions that address the intersection between the material and the spiritual. Between time and the timeless. between the temporary world and the eternal world. Additionally, humans have a unique ability to see beyond the physical. We can still imagine realities that we cannot actually see. We can crunch numbers in our heads, travel distances with memory and imagination, feel the emotions and thoughts of others, and empathize with those who are in pain.
This unique ability to deal with the spiritual needs to be cherished, not destroyed by technocracy or suppressed by ridicule and totalitarian governments. But this is something we are seeing more and more around the world. It would therefore be helpful if we could somehow explain freedom of religion or belief (FoB) in a country with the help of some kind of model.
The first level of some form of FoRB in a state is where religious worship, or the decision not to worship, is provided for in the constitution. Overall, most countries have some form of protection. However, it is clear that legal documents do not work well in reality. We see an increasing number of victims in countries with so-called protected legal status.
It is the second level FoRB that these countries may contest. In this state, dominant sentiments towards particular religions or new religious movements bow down to at least allow them to exist. Or, even better, recognize them as legitimate. In most countries at this level, religions and religious groups are considered a potential threat to society and are therefore required to legally register. Registration is a form of controlling them.
Step 3, one step up in the ranking of freedom of religion or belief in a state, is the so-called free market of religion. These states do not register religious groups and allow freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom to change religion, etc. But even at this level, we can see that the ties between government and religion have not yet been severed. Religion is implicated in politics, and state actors may use religion for their own political purposes.
This gives us the fourth, or highest, form of FoRB in our model. This is when the previous level of freedom is not only allowed, but protected by the state as well. There, religion does not get involved in government affairs or politics. It is a complete separation of state and religion, and the law serves to protect both. This is sometimes called SOROBAS (separation of religion or belief and state). The power of definition in society operates equally and independently between government, judiciary, and religion.
Of course, this is just a model that helps distinguish one level from another. But it may also be helpful in understanding the situation at Taijimen in Taiwan. It is clear that Taiwan has a high degree of freedom of religion and belief, perhaps best represented by Level 3 of our model.
Still, wouldn’t it be great if, by some miracle, the government took control of the IRS and dropped illegal taxes on the spiritual movement Taijimun? Once we reach Level 4 in our model, all religions and non-religions will be equally protected socially, by law, and by law enforcement. We are so close yet so far away.
