Chapter 1380: Xinbei District National Religion Headquarters
Xinbei District is underdeveloped, but as the economic center here, Yuancheng is still quite lively inside, and it can be said to be bustling with traffic all the way.
The city's internal facilities are basically all there is, and are not like those in remote mountainous areas.
The cathedral that occupies the center of Yuancheng is the state religion cathedral! The state religion of the Great Zhou is different from the conventional sects. It is not a simple religious facility, but has actual functionality. It is more like an important department under the development system of the Great Zhou.
Departments that actually play a role, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Propaganda, are now under the jurisdiction of the state religion.
In addition, the state religion also has functions similar to "citizen center" and "talent market" in modern society.
A business window was set up in one of the areas, and some identity registrations, job assignments, and even children’s schooling within the city were all registered and processed at this business window.
Simply put, you can understand that the current state cathedral is the largest municipal complex in a city.
Of course, apart from these functional facilities, as a nominal sect, they also possess some religious functions.
Therefore, there is often a cathedral inside.
To be honest, this is Zhou Xu's first time to visit this cathedral.
As the state religion, the only person who could believe in it was himself, the emperor of the Great Zhou.
Although there was nothing wrong with this, Zhou Xu always felt something was weird, so he had never been to this area before.
However, the Anglican Cathedral in Yuancheng, New Taipei City, is well-known.
In other aspects, New Taipei City may be lagging behind, but in the development of national religion, New Taipei City can only be said to be far ahead.
After all, don’t forget that the national religion originated in New Taipei City.
Even now, the state religion has covered every existing city in the Great Zhou, but the best developed and most devout members are still in the New North District.
The core area of the New Taipei City is the National Church Cathedral in Yuancheng, which was even once called the headquarters of the National Church!
Compared with this place, in the minds of believers, even the state religion in the capital Black Moon City can only be called the capital branch.
This couldn't help but arouse Zhou Xu's curiosity, and he wanted to come over and find out what was going on.
As soon as he walked in, the first thing that caught his eye was the statue of the emperor standing in the center of the church.
The statue was bathed in light, as if sacred and inviolable. Just one look at it would make people unconsciously feel reverence.
This effect is closely related to the interior design of the church.
The upper part of the church, up to the roof, is almost entirely made up of painted windows.
The glass used to make windows is not considered an expensive material within their Great Zhou, but the cost of painting it is extremely high.
At the same time, these paintings are not just painted for the sake of beauty. Each painted window has actual content, depicting the history of their Great Zhou Dynasty so far!
From the earliest exiled tribe, to the Emperor’s arrival in a ceremony, changing the tribe’s fate, settling in the Black Forest, establishing the Salt Lake Tribe, and then developing step by step to the present day.
Looking at the painted windows, Zhou Xu felt as if he was in another world.
Even he himself did not realize that he had experienced so much without realizing it.
For a moment, my heart was filled with emotion.
[Good fellow, given the conditions at the time, it would have been impossible to achieve this without some faith! ]
Following normal thinking, you might think that the conditions were so difficult at the time, and if you had the spare money to build this church, you might as well use it all for the people and construction.
In fact, Zhou Xu had the same idea at that time.
As a major staff member of the state religion at that time, Kong Daqian reported to him, and then he was convinced by Kong Daqian.
At that time, Kong Daqian had limited education and his words were a bit rough, but it can only be said that his words were rough but his logic was valid.
According to Zhou Xu's understanding, what Kong Daqian wanted to express at that time was, 'How much money does it cost to build such a church? If it is used for the development and construction of the entire New Taipei District, or for the people, it is just a drop in the bucket, and it won't even make a splash. But if this church can be built, it will provide countless spiritual food for the people of New Taipei District, allowing them to strengthen their will and persevere!'
When living conditions become extremely harsh and limited resources are not enough, if you want to survive, you have to rely on faith!
Zhou Xu really couldn't say that this idea was wrong, because the facts were before him and it did help them survive.
This incident also gave Zhou Xu a new understanding of Kong Daqian's talent.
He found that in order to be "eloquent" not only one has to be eloquent and have a quick mind, but one also has to have a good understanding of other people's thinking and ideas, otherwise how can you "debate"?
From this point of view, this is indeed an outstanding talent, enough to allow Kong Daqian to join the ranks of three-star god-level internal affairs personnel.
Of course, this is actually also related to Kong Daqian’s own difficult experiences in his early years. He understands these people too well. To some extent, this experience has also added a lot of help to him.
Passing through the outer hall, there is a confession room at the back. This was the idea proposed by Zhou Xu.
To put it bluntly, it is the psychologist of this era, providing some psychological counseling and comfort to the believers. Once launched, it became a popular project and greatly benefited the mental health of the believers.
In addition, the cathedral holds a "worship ceremony" every Sunday. There is no restriction on identity. Anyone can attend, regardless of whether they are a believer or not.
The essence of this ceremony, to put it bluntly, is to promote doctrine, or to promote patriotic ideas and to give the people ideological education lessons.
In order to enhance the effect, they often distribute some eggs and milk in the name of the "Emperor" on this day, which is generally called the "Emperor's Gift".
So far, the effects have been very good, significantly increasing the loyalty of the local people towards him and the internal cohesion.
After receiving definite feedback, Zhou Xu waved his hand and directly ordered the establishment of small churches in every block.
Compared with cathedrals, chapels are much simpler and less expensive. Their fundamental purpose is to set up a confessional in every neighborhood.
While ensuring the mental health of the people, we will increase the coverage of "worship ceremonies" and further expand the influence of the state religion.
Now it has grown in scale and integrated into the lives of the people in New Taipei City.
Even when conflicts arise between neighbors, staff from these small churches are often asked to act as mediators.
Although this was unplanned work, the result was that it further enhanced the influence of the national religion among the people in the New Taipei City area.
After receiving positive feedback, Zhou Xu simply incorporated this work into the daily work of national education.
(End of this chapter)
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