Taiwan has the second-highest religious diversity in the world, boasting not only some of the world’s major religions, but also a variety of folk religions, according to a recent report published by the Religion and Public Life Project of the Washington-based non-partisan think tank the Pew Research Center.
On a scale of zero to 10, Taiwan scored 8.2 on the project’s Religious Diversity Index, trailing behind only Singapore, which received a score of 9.
According to the US survey, nearly half of Taiwan’s population are folk religion followers (44.2 percent), followed by Buddhists (21.3 percent), other religious adherents (16.2 percent), unaffiliated believers (12.7 percent) and Christians (5.5 percent).
The rankings are based on the percentage of each of the 232 countries’ population of people that follow the major world religions — Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam and folk religions, as well as unaffiliated religions and other religions — as of 2010.
“The closer a country comes to having equal shares of the eight groups, the higher its score on a 10-point Religious Diversity Index,” the study said.
The study also found that among the 12 countries that have a “very high” degree of religious diversity — which requires a score of seven or higher — six are in the Asia-Pacific region — Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam (third), South Korea (eighth), China (ninth) and Hong Kong (10th).
On the other hand, the lowest scores are mostly earned by Islamic countries, such as Morocco and Pakistan, while the Vatican comes bottom of the global religious diversity rankings with a score of zero.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon this morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan between Friday and Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The storm, which as of 8am was still 1,100km southeast of southern Taiwan, is currently expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, the CWA said. Because of its rapid speed — 28kph as of 8am — a sea warning for the storm could be issued tonight, rather than tomorrow, as previously forecast, the CWA said. In terms of its impact, Usagi is to bring scattered or
An orange gas cloud that leaked from a waste management plant yesterday morning in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) was likely caused by acidic waste, authorities said, adding that it posed no immediate harm. The leak occurred at a plant in the district’s Environmental Science and Technology Park at about 7am, the Taoyuan Fire Department said. Firefighters discovered a cloud of unidentified orange gas leaking from a waste tank when they arrived on the site, it said, adding that they put on Level A chemical protection before entering the building. After finding there was no continuous leak, the department worked with the city’s Department
RSS