Taoism

Being a Chinese, I am surprised to see that Taoism is defined as a kind of religions and introduced in this humanities class that is comparing different world religions. Though I know that I do not learn about Taoism very well, I always thought I am correct that Taoism is a philosophy, rather than a religion, as far as I am a Chinese where the Taoism is found. To me, the Gods and Goddesses, like Emperor Jade, in religious Taoism are merely characters in fairy tales. I have never thought that these characters in myths would mean God of certain religion. And hence, I always thought Taoism is…