There are more than 15,000 religious establishments in the country, including nearly 12,000 Buddhist or Taoist temples and about 3,000 Christian churches of various denominations, which shows that Taiwan is a religiously diverse country, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said yesterday.
“On average, there are 41 religious establishments — including temples and churches — in each township or municipal district,” Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) said in a statement.
“The density of religious establishments in Taiwan is very high compared to most countries. This shows that we are a religiously tolerant and diverse country,” Jiang said.
That all different religions in the country could coexist peacefully and respect each other is also proof that Taiwan is a tolerant society, the minister added.
According to the MOI, there are a total of 27 officially registered religions in the country, including the major religions of Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism and Islam, as well as smaller or locally developed religions such as Confucianism, I-kuan Tao (一貫道), Maitreyaism (彌勒大道) and the Unification Church.
As far as Taoism and Buddhism are concerned, Taoist temples account for 78.3 percent of all 11,875 officially registered temples in the country, while Buddhist temples account for 19.6 percent, MOI statistics show.
For Christianity, 76.5 percent of the country’s 3,336 churches are Protestant, while Catholic churches account for 22.2 percent, according to the MOI.
Regarding the geographic location of religious establishments, more than 30 percent of all temples are in Greater Tainan, Greater Kaohsiung City and Pingtung County, while more than 30 percent of Christian churches are located in Taipei City, Greater Kaohsiung and Hualien County, the MOI statement said.
“From the figures, we see that different religions enjoy popularity in different regions,” the press release said. “Taoism and Buddhism are popular in southern Taiwan, and Protestantism and Catholicism are popular in northern and eastern Taiwan.”
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