Since the early 20th century, religion has been seen by the Chinese stateand intellectuals as an obstacle to modernization and has thus been devalued. This article points out how this pejorative view of religion has latently persistedin contemporary Taiwan in the formulation of an important policy ofcommunity development. The author draws on ethnography from the Mazuislands, a former frontier military base, to investigate the predicaments andbreakthroughs of community projects carried out there. This paper aims toshow that a consensus of new community began to emerge only when the localelites recognized the importance of religion and began to participate in buildingthe village temple-an architecture held in great esteem by residents. This paperdemonstrates that religion and, in particular, the process of its materializationinto a temple, serve as a basis for the formation of a new community.