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Historical Change in the Provision of Religious Welfare
Services in Taiwan: historical investigation of selected cases
In general, there are always some arguments about
distinguishing thereligious voluntary sector from the public
sector, where the religiousvoluntary sector is given some
social obligations and incidentallymoral responsiblities. For
example, charitable relief is asked to improve community
development and to strengthen the sense of socialsolidarity, a
variety of social and civic activities are assumed to express
the sense of morality, and even the belief that the foundationof
each kind of school that is based on religious doctrines must
alsobe adapted to the target of national development.
Therefore, we take here an alternative research approach,that
is fromthe viewpoint of the religious voluntary sector, we
rethink the contextual implications and specific meanings
of the provision ofreligious welfare services. Finally, we
clarify some misunderstandingsabout the crowding-out effects
of religious welfare resources, themyth of nation-wide
religious medical services,the nationalization ofeducation, and
the ambiguity of relations between state and religion,when we
choose the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan, the Tz''u-
ChiKung-Teh Hvei and the Ta-Chia Chen-Lan-Kung as our case
studies. Key Words:provision of religious welfare
services ,religious charitable relief, religious medical
services, religious educationalservices, religious
socialization , the typology of religious welfareservices.
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