臺灣宗教與政治保守主義

Religion and Conservatism in Taiwan

西方的宗教政治學文獻中，宗教經常和保守主義關聯在一起，像是反墮胎、反同性戀，或是投票給保守派政黨。宗教基本教義派的興起，也鼓舞了宗教參與政治。自由派人士認為，宗教保守主義及其對政治的積極參與，對民主制度形成潛在的威脅。這種宗教和保守主義之間的關係，也存在於多元宗教的亞洲國家嗎？在臺灣多元宗教和平共處的環境中，本文在研究宗教和保守主義關係上，提供一個探索性的統計研究。統計結果確認了「有宗教信仰者比無宗教信仰者更為保守」這個一般性理論。但是，不同的宗教信仰與宗教團體的政治態度不一。在某些案例中，有宗教信仰者未必比無宗教信仰者更為保守。這可能是與該宗教特殊的經典、傳統與教導有關。本文也根據受訪者對於臺灣主要宗教「宗教力量」的經驗與相關的「宗教概念」，進行了兩個方法論上的實驗，比較這兩個宗教經驗變數與政治態度的關係。統計結果顯示：華人宗教是一種多面向（multidimensional）的現象。研究者應該正視此特性，提出適當的多種研究方法。

In the Western literature on religious politics, religion is often associated with political conservatism, for instance, anti-abortion, anti-homosexuality, and voting for conservative parties. The rise of religious fundamentalism also encourages religious participation in politics. Religious conservatism and their active participation in politics together pose a potential ”threat” to democracy, as perceived by the liberals. Does the relationship between religion and conservatism also hold true in Asian countries with multiple religions? This paper presents a pioneering statistical research on the relationship between religion and political conservatism in Taiwan where multiple religions co-exist peacefully. The statistical results confirm the general theory that religious people are more conservative than non-believers. But they vary across religious beliefs and religious groups. In some cases, religious people are not more conservative than non-religious people. This difference is probably due to the specific classics, tradition, and teaching of each religion. This paper also conducts two methodological experiments based on the respondent's experience of religious powers and religious conceptions associated with the major religions in Taiwan in order to explain their differences in political attitude. The statistical results demonstrate that Chinese religions are multi-dimensional phenomena and should be studied accordingly.