Seeing that the participants in the hall were losing control more and more, Yis ordered someone to ring the bronze chime to suppress the whole situation.
Although people calmed down, the participants glared at each other and the atmosphere was tense.
Yis shook his head and said: "The state has national laws and practices, and there must be rules and regulations for preaching."
After speaking, Yis nodded to Xu Fanghai beside him.
The latter raised the booklet and read out the crimes just exposed one by one.
They engage in lewdness, seduction, poisoning, and even conceal weapons and betrayal.
Whichever one is mentioned is a genuine felony.
After hearing this, many members of the sects who attended the meeting began to be afraid, some began to regret, and some began to think of how to lie to smooth things over.
Yis stopped Xu Fanghai and said, "Listen, it was originally a pure religious place, but it has hidden so much filth. No wonder the people are dissatisfied with you. Because of this, the court has received many requests from the people.
, we need to regulate religious affairs, do you understand now?"
The participants did not dare to protest and nodded one after another.
Yis took the book and read it while saying: "There is no rule without rules. Since we want to formulate rules for religion, first of all, we must determine the person in charge of management. The policy set by the court is that the government serves as the arbiter, and
For specific matters, each sect will send representatives to form a deliberative assembly to jointly discuss and handle sectarian affairs."
The attendees were stunned when they heard this.
Before coming, all the religious people attending the meeting originally thought that the Yinglong Religion, which is favored by the Holy One today, would support the Yinglong Religion as the state religion, and then take coercive measures to suppress other religions while exercising strong control. However, people were surprised.
Unexpectedly, the imperial court actually established a system in which the government acted as the arbitrator and the sects negotiated on their own.
Originally, Yis had the same idea, but the emperor's words made him change his mind.
Yis couldn't help but think that the methods of managing religions in the past dynasties were mostly to support a certain religion as the state religion, then support the state religion to grow in power, and finally suppress other sects, thereby achieving the country's religious stability.
However, this approach has the biggest drawback.
That is, religion originated from the people, and it is a bottom-up organizational structure. But if the court adopts the method of supporting the state religion and suppressing the power of folk sects from the top down, there will only be two results:
First, the state religion became the dominant one, and its power gradually spread across the country. Those in power in the church were not satisfied with just sectarian power, but gradually extended their hands to politics and began to try to achieve the unification of political and religious power.
Second, oppressed folk religions, unable to realize their aspirations for an upward path, will turn to violence and gangs, uniting with those who conspire in rebellion, and trying to overthrow the current solidification of the religious class.
No matter which one of these two results, in the end, it will shake the foundation of the country.
Emperor Zhou Jun and Yisi had a long conversation about this at that time, and one of their words made the latter think about it for a long time.
Zhou Jun: "For a country, religion is like a trickle in peacetime. But once the country enters war, war and chaos shake the people's hearts and minds, and people become uneasy and begin to seek solace other than material things. Then believers
If it increases greatly, religion will slowly become a ferocious beast."
Yis: "But Your Majesty, as long as the reins of this beast are still in the hands of the imperial court, then everything should be worry-free."
Zhou Jun shook his head and said: "As the war continues, the turmoil of people's hearts will nourish this beast, not only making its body bigger, but also making it more ferocious. One day, the court will find that it has insufficient strength and cannot pull it.
Hold on to the reins, it will no longer be possible to control this beast."
Yis was stunned on the spot, Zhou Jun's words made him feel awe-inspiring.
Zhou Jun: "So, the best way to deal with wild animals is not the reins, but the animal pen."
Iss: "But even if a pen is set up, the wild animals will still break through the fence and escape?"
Zhou Jun: "Yes, as far as religion is concerned, when establishing an animal enclosure, two things should be done, one is to raise animals in groups, and the other is to feed them."
"The so-called group breeding means that you cannot raise just one beast in the animal pen, but make the beasts live in groups. In order to compete for territory among different groups of animals, they will focus on fighting among themselves.
Instead of trying to break through the animal enclosure and lose control."
"The so-called feeding means putting enough food into the animal pen, and then the animals distribute the food to each other. As long as there is sufficient nutrition, the animal group will not leave the animal pen. After many years, the beasts will have feelings for the outside world.
Fear makes them afraid to move forward in the face of the pen. Even if outsiders approach the animal pen, the beasts will attack them in groups, preventing them from entering the pen, forming an invisible barrier."
After recalling these words, Yis looked at the religious figures in the temple and sighed.
Immediately afterwards, he said: "The imperial court will conduct a thorough inspection of religions across the country based on their origins, sects, locations, number of people, past innocence, etc. After the inspection is completed, religious licenses will be issued to the sects that have passed the review."
Someone asked: "What is the use of this license plate?"
Iss: "Sects that have a religious license will be registered as a state-registered orthodox religion. Those who do not have a license will preach privately and will be defined as a heresy by the court."
Seeing the discussion among the participants, Iss continued: "Next, let's talk about the rights that registered Orthodox Christians can enjoy and the obligations they must bear. Let's talk about rights first..."
"First, any licensed sect, including land, population, temples, livestock and other assets, as long as they are registered, will be recognized as religious property. Just like civilian property, a deed will be issued and registered with the Ministry of Household Affairs.
.In addition to not being able to trade, they can enjoy equal rights and no one can plunder them wantonly."
"Second, registered orthodox religions, as long as they do not violate the laws of the Tang Dynasty, are allowed to set up religious altars and collect a certain amount of incense money from believers who come to worship. At the same time, unregistered cults and heresies, under any name, can charge the people
If money is collected, the Orthodox can report it. Once verified, the illegal gains will be rewarded to the Orthodox in proportion."
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "Third, registered sects can enjoy certain tax reductions and exemptions. For some religions with financial difficulties, the court will issue certain subsidies to help them continue."
"Four. Once a year, the religious supervisor holds a religious conference in the imperial city of Kyoto. At the conference, the registered Orthodox will discuss the missionary work, development, punishment of domestic sects and all religious-related matters on their own. After the conference, a document will be submitted to the court for review and approval.
The decree is announced to the world."
As for the first three items, the sectarians who attended the meeting were already constantly surprised.
As for the fourth article, the imperial court adopted the method of religious conference and allowed many sects to adopt a discussion method to collectively determine religious policies. This was a gift that they could not even imagine.
Seeing the joy on the faces of the religious people, Is cleared his throat and continued: "After talking about rights, next comes the obligations."
"First, registered sects should uphold the rule of the imperial court. Any words or deeds that attempt to subvert, slander or attack the country will be regarded as treason. When the religious license is deprived, they will be defined as a heresy and will be permanently prohibited from preaching in the country."
"Second, registered sects should abide by Tang law. Those who violate the law will be punished the same as the common people regardless of their religious position and have no extra-legal privileges."
After hearing the first two sentences, the sectarians did not have any objections.
Iss slowly spoke of the third obligation: "As long as the country's registered orthodox religions, the teachings must be reviewed by the court before they can be released to the public. The religious supervision committee summarizes those teachings that may cause sectarian conflicts and make believers antagonize each other.
And put forward rectification requirements. Any religion that does not modify its teachings will not be able to obtain an orthodox license and will be defined as a heresy."
This item greatly surprised the participants.
Although the secular imperial power before the Tang Dynasty also had restrictions on religious doctrines, it had never happened before at the national level that legislation required religions to modify their doctrines.
Some religious people asked worriedly: "I wonder what the imperial court's requirements are for rectifying the teachings of various sects?"
Iss: "To be specific, there are many detailed rules. But there is one that I can tell you first. The imperial court requires that the superstructure of all religions must be unified and interoperable."
Everyone present was confused by what Is said. Some people asked: "What does this superstructure and unified interoperability mean?"
Iss: "The sects present today include Buddhism, Taoism, Zoroastrianism, Sutra Sect, Dashi Sect, etc., but no matter whether the supreme god you believe in is Buddha, Tianzun, God, etc., these names are just a
Symbol is a name for the Supreme God. In teachings, other gods must not be called false gods in exclusive terms, but the omnipresence of the Supreme God must be recognized, and may be related to other forms, names, and anything that exists in the world.
Place."
Someone finally heard what Is said: "You mean to unify the highest gods of all religions into one person? And this existence, although it has different names in different teachings, is essentially the same