Han Kuo-yu and Liu Shih-fang unite on City God culture for justice

Legislative Yuan President Han Kuo-yu and Minister of the Interior Liu Shih-fang jointly attended a public event today, engaging in exchanges centered on the Chenghuang (City God) culture, which holds significant weight in Taiwan's folk beliefs. In his remarks, Han specifically emphasized that the core spirit represented by the City God—the pursuit of fairness and justice, the rewarding of good and punishment of evil, and the protection of the city—is highly consistent with the duties and mission of the Legislative Yuan, the nation's highest legislative body. This event was not only an annual gala of traditional religious culture, but also a rare occasion where political figures from across the political spectrum appeared together to forge social consensus through Taiwan's deep-rooted folk beliefs, sparking widespread discussion on the relationship between religious culture and representative democracy.

Taiwan's Chenghuang worship has a long history. Within the folk belief system, the City God is often regarded as the judicial official of the netherworld and a local guardian deity, tasked with rewarding good and punishing evil, discerning details with acute clarity, and maintaining local peace. Han connected this traditional spirit with the operation of the Legislative Yuan, pointing out that as representatives of public opinion, the core work of legislators is similarly to pursue social fairness and justice in the processes of formulating laws and supervising executive power, while building a protective rampart to safeguard the rights and interests of all citizens. This comparison, which mirrors the universal values of religious deities with the checks and balances function of the modern democratic constitutional system, infuses traditional beliefs with new meaning in the contemporary political arena.

On the other hand, Minister of the Interior Liu Shih-fang approached the same event from the perspective of policies and practices within the executive branch, specifically elaborating on the government's support for promoting and preserving traditional religious culture. Liu stated that in order to ensure the sustainable development of Taiwan's precious local religious assets and help them reach the world, the Ministry of the Interior has specifically established an exclusive international religious exchange subsidy mechanism. Through this policy tool, the government actively encourages domestic religious groups and temples to not only take deep root locally, but also to project Taiwan's unique religious and cultural charm onto the international stage, attracting more international tourists and scholars to experience Taiwan and further enhancing the nation's cultural soft power.

From a political and social perspective, Taiwanese temples have historically been more than just centers of religious faith; they also serve as grassroots social hubs and gathering points for public opinion. Neither the parliamentary legislative power represented by the Legislative Yuan President nor the national executive and local affairs managed by the Minister of the Interior can become detached from the pulse of grassroots sentiment. The punishment of evil and promotion of good emphasized by Chenghuang worship is, by nature, a collective defense of social order and moral baselines. The interactions and statements of political figures in these settings often convey an emphasis on social justice values and the political wisdom of seeking cohesion within a diverse society.

With the deepening of Taiwan's democratization process, the relationship between religion and politics has gradually shifted from early wariness to open respect and dialogue. The participation of politicians in religious activities is not merely to connect with the grassroots and win voter recognition; more importantly, through the rituals and spiritual connotations of traditional beliefs, it conveys a reassuring strength to the public. The intersection between Han Kuo-yu and Liu Shih-fang at the Chenghuang cultural event precisely demonstrated the shared expectations of different political roles in upholding social justice and promoting cultural preservation, while once again allowing the outside world to witness the critical bridging role that Taiwan's religious culture plays in contemporary society.

(Source: Central News Agency)