Tai Ji Men

On July 13, 2007, the Supreme Court of Taiwan found Tai Ji Men innocent of all charges. Yet, this landmark decision has not been fully implemented to this day.

Through “interpretation letters” and other tools, tax offices often try to rewrite the laws rather than just applying them—violating the principle of separation of powers.

At the East Asian Society for the Scientific Study of Religion yearly meeting, a panel examined the problems caused by a “science without conscience” and an unjust tax system.

Fundamental principles of law were violated by Taiwan’s bureaucrats. Rectifying the injustice should always be possible. 

The question still resounds with no answer sixteen years after the Supreme Court of the Republic of China ruled that all accusations against Tai Ji Men were inconsistent.

A session of the 37th conference of the International Society for the Sociology of Religions was dedicated to FoRB problems in Taiwan in comparative perspective.

Parliamentarism is the worst form of government except for all the others. But it may degrade into tyranny of the majority as the Tai Ji Men case shows all too well.

As a patent attorney, the author understands the need for private and public integrity and for putting together science and conscience. It did not happen in the Tai Ji Men case.

Taiwan’s economic development finds an obstacle in its idiosyncratic tax system, which also affected spiritual movements, including Tai Ji Men.