Taiji and Religion

Some people get confused between taiji and religion. Just because the taiji symbol is used as a symbol by Taoism doesn't mean that taiji is part of Taoism. Some Christians that I know decided not to take up taiji because of this. And my teacher was relating an incident about a talk he gave at a mosque. He was talking to the Muslims gathered at the mosque about taiji (they invited him), but at the end of the talk, they asked if there are Muslim teachers. I don't know what that has to do with learning taiji.

Personally, I don't think practising taiji means you are a Taoist. My teacher used to teach at a Catholic church, and he himself is not Catholic. Yet the father there welcomed him and let him used the church grounds to teach taiji to the church goers. If a Catholic father does not see taiji as part of another religion, then why should the rest of the layman?

Yet in another way, taiji is similar to religion. Not any religion, but religions in general. Why? Religion is about faith. No one knows what Heaven is like, yet faith allows people to follow in the teachings of a religion, believing that it will ultimately lead them to where they want to go. In practising taiji, we must have faith too. Right from the start, we are unable to use soft to counter hard. But we must have faith in the teachings of our teachers, and the teachers before them. Follow their teachings and it will ultimately allow you to use soft to counter hard.