Show RELIGION IN JAPAN It has bee asserted denied and reasserted re-asserted that the Japanese government is about to adopt Christianity as a state religion Just what particular brand of Christianity is not even suggested but there is quite an assortment of creeds from which to choose Japan differs from Russia England and other European countries In this She has no state religion Her constitution consti-tution is as tolerant as that of the United States Every religion is I given the liberty to exercise its func 0 rt tion7so 10ngasJt does not lterfere with ot dist r Jlle peace order and moralsot soc1ety The growth of Christianity in rapan was retarded considerably by the reports re-ports of investigators sent to differ patts of the world several years ago and particularly by those whp came to the United States They reported that the Christian religionists were disunited disunit-ed mercenary and more interested In the ceremonies and doctrines of partic ular creeds than in a general plan of salvation They claimtd to have found ChrIstians contradicting each other In regard to matters ofdivine origin and vigorously denouncing each other over conflicting interpretations of tile word of their God And so doubts took root in the minds of the Japanese whichl may account for the statement in a recent I re-cent issue of the Tokio Times that Christianity inaapan has been man i tive for several yearst i The reasorl for ihis from a Japanese standpoint at east may be divined II I I from the following sytiopsrs of the Times article I The early converts to Christianity I believed everything that was told them I by the mIssionaries and embraced with ardor a creed they could not com1re bend because it promised so many blessings and so much consolation and they undertook the work of evahgeliz ing their fellow countrymen with a zealand zeal-and enthusiasm which was too feverish to last long The zeal of many exhausted exhaust-ed itself in a few years and when the educated convErts had time to reflect and investigate they discovered defect and differences among Christians which were indirect contradiction to their professions pro-fessions and teachings They put doctrines doc-trines above morals and engaged in theological the-ological controversies with such bitterness bitter-ness as to condemn each other and demonstrate their own inconsistency Learned men from Japan who aent abroad discovered that vice crime poverty and depravity prevailed to a I I greater extent among Christian nations than in Japan before Christianity had been taught while those who remained at home could not blind their eyes to the fact that immigrants from Christian Chris-tian nations brought into Japan vices and immoral practices which were Unknown un-known before their arrival and would not be tolerated by a pagan people Before the Christians arrived the Japanese Ja-panese were an honest innocent unsuspecting pecting people The Christians took advantage ad-vantage of their condition to swindle them but the Japanese soon learned the tricks and the commercial immorality immor-ality that is now complained of is due to their quick imitation of foreign customs cus-toms If the Christian missionaries in Japan and churches elsewhere will devote less time to theological controversy and I more to teaching morals and setting examples ex-amples that will not destroy the force and effect of their teaching a stronger impression might be made upon the philosophical minds of an inquisitive and eager people like the Japanese I I |