The Tao or Dao is not a religion. Those that practice the Dao as a religion are the ones you need to stay away from.
The Dao is a universal force that is recognized in Asian cultures and from that theories and philosophy can be derived from it. Even True Buddhism recognizes the Dao.
Eastern Christianity or Orthodox Christianity also recognizes the Dao. There is a very good book to read that relates the Dao in True Christianity. The book is called "Christ the Eternal Tao."
FYI...the correct way to pronounce the Tao is Dao. In the Chinese language there is no hard consonant like "T" unless you are making curse words.
Great feedback! This is exactly the type I was hoping to get. I will be careful to make that distinction with my students. I do always pronounce the word with the “d” sound but it is good to be reminded.
I forgot to ask you a question. I understand what you are saying about the misuse of the word "religion". Would calling Taoism a "philosophy" be more accurate in your opinion?
Yes, I would say it is more of a philosophy.
An example, such as applying the theories in real life....living with nature and understanding cycles of it is the practice of it. Traditional Chinese Medicine practices are all Daoist principles and teaching.
Then you also have Qi Gong which uses Daoist theories to strengthen the physical body.
Then there is a deeper side such as connecting with the Dao, which is the spiritual side.
True Daoism doesn't worship spirits which some of the Modern Daoist practice do, which becomes a religion. That's a big No-No. In China, they are scam artist. The most common scam that some of these Daoist monks are doing is tricking people in giving them money so that they can align the energy to give good luck. Some of these Daoist monk act like shamans that claim they can manipulate the energies of the universe.
The more despicable thing is tricking underage girls to have sex with the Daoist monk to give good luck.