Master Yuan, start!

Seeing an acquaintance coming, Stalin didn't waste any words and asked directly: "Boris, is this an Orthodox church?

I didn't expect that your country's new government would actually encourage its citizens to believe in religion?"

"Orthodox Church, are you talking about this?" Zhang Zuolin pointed to the Russian-style building next to him and said with a smile:

"It's true that this is a church, but it's not your Western Orthodox Church. It's our Chinese Confucianism."

"Confucianism?" Stalin frowned.

"Yes, Confucianism." Zhang Zuolin pointed to the big word "Confucianism" hanging above the church door and nodded.

Confucianism is a "new religion" that has gradually developed outside the Great Wall in recent years under the promotion of Yuan Shikai.

However, the local people do not think that this is a new religion, because the contents of Confucianism are all things they can encounter in their daily lives.

Confucianism is not regarded as a religion in the mainstream discourse in China in later generations.

It is only regarded as a lifestyle, ethical code, behavioral habits, etc.

But in fact, if you take a closer look at some of the standards of religion, you will find that Confucianism and religion are extremely similar.

It is social and can influence people's behavior and activities; it is popular and has a large number of supporters; it is stable and can survive changes of dynasties without being affected.

Most ancient Chinese scholars also placed Confucianism on the same level as Buddhism, Taoism, Islam and other religions.

Just because Confucianism is too deeply tied to Chinese society, the feudal hierarchy, and the bureaucratic system, it doesn’t mean it is not a religion.

Therefore, facing the wave of invasion of foreign religions in later generations, Yuan Xiangcheng decided to start from the present, take out Confucianism and use it for his own benefit.

After driving the Russians away, the churches they left behind were renovated and reused as Confucian churches.

The purpose of doing all this is not only to extend our reach to the grassroots, but also to ensure future social stability.

You should know that in the 21st century, in the rural areas of a certain central plain province, the religious rate among the elderly even reached an exaggerated 2%, and there was a Christian church in almost every village.

Some left-behind children are taken to church by their grandparents every week.

In name, it is to "get communion for free", but over time, non-religious children will gradually become interested in Western religions and become proactive.

If this continues, there will be more and more people who believe in God in China in the future.

Yuan Xiangcheng always believed that the Han people were not a nation without faith, but they just did not hold religious ceremonies like Western religions.

The beliefs of Confucianism have been deeply ingrained into everyone's bones and will have an impact on their entire lives.

The ancestor worship ceremony that every Chinese person experiences is a clear example of this.

This was also the slogan when Yuan Xiangcheng founded the Red Confucian Society.

"Respect Confucianism and ancestors, and restore China."

Respecting Confucianism means not only respecting Confucianism, but also respecting Confucianism.

To put it bluntly, the establishment of Confucianism was a defensive measure aimed only at self-preservation, not expansion.

As I said, the Six Classics explain me, and I explain the Six Classics.

What do the things written in Confucian classics mean and what is the truth behind them?

What the ancients said doesn’t count, only what modern people say counts.

If the views of the ancients and the moderns agree, then follow them.

If the views of ancient and modern people disagree, it is that "the original intentions of the Confucian sages were good, but unfortunately the implementation was bad."

Chapter 483 The Beginning and End of New Confucianism

Throughout the long ancient history, the hearts of the Chinese people were poor and needed to be filled.

A small number of scholars found inner comfort by studying the classics of the sages, and thus embarked on the path of teaching or becoming an official.

But the vast majority of people will never be able to write their own names in their entire lives, and will not be able to fill their hearts with knowledge from books.

Therefore, at this time, religion often takes advantage of the situation.

This is true whether it is the more formal Buddhism and Taoism, or the less formal White Lotus Sect and Maitreya Sect, or even the God Worshipping Society in the Hongxiu Three Temples and the Golden Elixir Dao in the Rehe area.

They promised the people a beautiful "fantasy of the afterlife" and asked them to dedicate their lives to this illusory wish.

The difference is that formal religions have certain constraints and often only seek to make money in the long term; while less formal ones, in addition to money, also require believers to obey their will and resist the government.

Even in the 21st century, when compulsory education has become universal and people's quality has greatly improved, there are still people who choose to believe in some "gods and ghosts"

Even among the non-religious red group, a considerable number of people still cannot get rid of these religious concepts in their minds.

But this is actually inevitable.

After all, the state can only control a person's body, not his spirit.

The future China of this time and space will definitely be a country with freedom of belief.

This was determined by the republican system from the moment the country was founded.

Therefore, in Yuan Xiangcheng's view, instead of letting cults or foreign religions fill the gaps in the minds of Chinese people in the future, it is better to let local regular religions with less harm come.

After all, the religious high ground is there, and if you don't occupy it, the enemy will.

No matter how extreme the thoughts of those who believe in Buddhism, Taoism, or in the future Neo-Confucianism are, they probably will not think of subverting Chinese civilization, because their ideological systems are derived from these things and cannot be separated from them.

However, Catholicism, Christianity, and Islam are different. Once these religions are believed in, they are often separated from Chinese culture.

You can’t celebrate the Spring Festival, you can’t worship your ancestors, and you can’t wear mourning clothes when a relative passes away.

If a Chinese person who was born and raised here is separated from these cultural customs passed down for thousands of years.

Then, can he really be called a "Chinese"?

Buddhism and Taoism have existed since ancient times, so it is not convenient to use them directly. So we simply took the Confucian system, which is very similar to religion, and then incorporated elements of Buddhism and Taoism.

After all, there are many mythological characters in the original mythological stories, and they have identities in both Buddhism and Taoism. Now it is not at all inconsistent to incorporate them all into the Confucian system.

0 Moreover, many Chinese people in later generations who believed in their native religions did not really believe in religions, but rather believed in simple folk beliefs.

It is difficult to say what the connection is between Mazu, worshipped by Fujianese people, and Guan Erye, worshipped by Guangdong people.

But they are all classified as "Taoism". Even though many people think that Mazu does not belong to Taoism and it is extremely far-fetched to think that Guan Erye was absorbed into Taoism, it does not prevent people from visiting them.

Be inclusive and integrate all knowledge.

During the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, people advocated the "Three Religions in One". So after the establishment of the Republic, it would not be a bad idea to have a new Three Religions in One movement.

1Taoism emphasizes "cultivating this life", Buddhism emphasizes "cultivating the next life", and the newly emerged Confucianism emphasizes cultivating both this life and the next life.

Doing good deeds privately can not only bring benefits in this life, but also accumulate blessings for the next life.

In addition, Yuan Xiangcheng believed that Neo-Confucianism could also combine the worship of gods with ancestor worship.

6. Hold Neo-Confucian "religious ceremonies" in the form of regular official public sacrifices, and everyone can worship their ancestors through religious ceremonies.

In short, New Confucianism is to incorporate the simple religious beliefs that were originally scattered in the hearts of ordinary people across the country and give them the name of "Confucianism".

A big tent religion.

To pray for children, cure diseases, and find a good marriage, people can now worship not only Buddha but also Confucianism.

Neo-Confucianism is like a "placeholder", formally occupying the religious place of ordinary Chinese people.

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As for those who convert to Confucianism, do they really believe in Confucianism?

This is not important, and Yuan Xiangcheng doesn't care.

Chinese people can "worship Confucianism when they have something to do and curse Confucius when they have nothing to do", as long as they do not believe in other foreign religions.

Just like a certain workers' organization in the 21st century that only distributes eggs and gifts among the working group.

How effective is it?

Its greatest use is to "reserve a position" to prevent the establishment of an organization that truly fights for the rights of workers.

The same is true of the role of Neo-Confucianism.

After the Kong family was divided into three parts, a branch of the Kong family was moved outside the Great Wall to educate the people.

Yuan Xiangcheng established the new Confucianism in the name of this person.

After its establishment, the speed at which New Confucianism expanded among the Han Chinese outside the Great Wall was actually not very fast.

Because these things do not require belief, many people are not interested in them.

After all, most Chinese people are pragmatic.

Nowadays, all kinds of industries are waiting to be developed outside the Great Wall. Whether it is farming, working, doing business, joining the army, or escorting, most people are too busy to pay attention.

...

However, what Yuan Shikai could not have imagined was that on the Korean Peninsula, Neo-Confucianism was like a tiger descending from Changbai Mountain, sweeping across the entire peninsula from north to south at an extremely fast speed.

When they learned that this was a religion that had come from the interior of China, the Korean people, who called themselves the "survivors of China," were unwilling to let their "homeland of China" fall behind.

Yuan Xiangcheng was also very surprised when he heard the news. However, after recalling some events in the original time and space, he understood the mystery.

In the original time and space, South Korea in the 21st century is a "pre-Confucian country" with the highest proportion of Christian population.

About 30% of the population believes in Christianity, while this proportion in China, Japan and Vietnam is less than 5%.

Moreover, the Christianity that Koreans believe in is not a formal sect. It is often combined with the local ethnic group to form the "Korean Jesus Faction" with a very Korean flavor.

The so-called Korean Jesus faction is the Koreanization of Western gods.

Koreans believe that the character "Hwanung" in their mythology is Adam who stole the apple in the Garden of Eden, and another mythological character, the bear woman, is Eve.

The three Taebaek Mountains on the Korean Peninsula are regarded by Koreans as the Trinity in Christianity, that is, the three mountains represent the Son, the Holy Spirit, and the Father respectively.

For thousands of years, the spiritual world of the Koreans has actually been extremely empty.

Confucianism has brought them comfort for nearly a thousand years, but in modern times, the continuous invasion of the West and the strong landing of Christian culture have gradually shattered North Korea's originally fragile Confucian cloak.

In the original time and space, they were subjected to nearly half a century of colonial oppression by Japan and were forced to believe in Japan's Shintoism.

So, they finally chose Western Christianity to counter Japanese Shintoism.

In this time and space, although Yuan Shikai repelled the Japanese and "abolished the feudal system and established counties in Korea, restoring it to China", the physical recovery could not make up for the spiritual loss.

Therefore, when Neo-Confucianism spread to the Korean Peninsula, Koreans who considered themselves Chinese showed unimaginable enthusiasm for converts.

And this is not a kind of "big powerism"