Snake Oil Religions in Japan?

[L S]

Dangerous or just natural social evolution?

New 'gods' rush in to snare kids

By MARK SCHREIBER
Sapio (March 23)

At the end of 2004, NHK's most recent survey on "Japanese awareness," conducted every five years since 1973, was made public. Among the 16-19 age segment, only 25 percent of the subjects regarded themselves as believers in Shinto or Buddhism -- the lowest figure since the survey was begun. By contrast, 41 percent said they espoused "other" beliefs.
Speaking to Sapio, Nobutaka Inoue, professor of Shinto Cultural Studies at Kokugakuin University, says this departure from traditional religions is by no means confined to Japan. The last quarter of the 20th century marked the rise of what he calls "hyper-religions," specifically, religions that combine a country's native or traditional beliefs with a variety of elements from abroad to form a completely new system.

Examples of such foreign-based sects, Inoue tells Sapio, include the Church of Scientology in the United States and the Raelean movement, founded by a French journalist. In Japan, he has observed similar characteristics among new religious groups, including GLA (God Light Association), founded by Shinji Takahashi, and Kofuku no Kagaku (The Institute for Research in Human Happiness) established by Ryuho Ohkawa.

While the growth of new religions may be a global trend, Inoue asserts that it could not succeed without the ongoing erosion in traditional religious practices handed down from generation to generation -- irrespective of whether the purpose of those models was "to show reverence toward the deity [or Buddha]" or "to venerate one's ancestors."

While the number of religions in Japan increased following the Meiji Restoration of 1865, it was an edict issued by the Allied Occupation in December 1945, simplifying the establishment of religious bodies, that paved the way to what has been cynically termed the "Rush Hour of the Gods."

Social climate aside, Inoue lays at least some of the blame for the proliferation of the new sects -- some of which seem to be potentially dangerous cults -- on commercial TV, which from the mid-1970s has broadcast a steady stream of programs on the occult that sensationalized the abilities of psychics, mystics and spiritualists.

"After AUM's [1995] gassing of the Tokyo subways, TV toned down the programs for a while," complains Inoue, "but now they're at it again, actively promoting them . . . but if you're a spiritualist or fortuneteller, you can get away with anything."

Inoue reserves some of his venom for modern electronics, from the Internet to video games, which he insists are causing young Japanese to develop increasingly skewed perceptions. An example: Following last June's murder of a sixth grade primary schooler by a classmate in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, the local board of education conducted a survey in which it found to its dismay that 15.4 percent of the children voiced belief that "a dead person can return to life."

But it seems a bit unfair to criticize children for such views, considering there are so few adults capable of setting them straight.

"Teachers at public schools seem nearly incapable of explaining 'What happens when a person dies,' or 'Why life is important,' " asserts Inoue. "Even at schools with religious affiliation such teachers are hard to find."

[FG Lurker]

Snake Oil Religions in Japan?

More and more I believe that all religions are snake oil.

There is just too much bullshit spouted in the name of religion. Not to mention the hatred and wars.

[Ketou]

Snake Oil Religions in Japan?

More and more I believe that all religions are snake oil.

There is just too much bullshit spouted in the name of religion. Not to mention the hatred and wars.

That's just it! And the more followers you have have the more righteous you become. Isn't there a bumper sticker or such that goes, "170 million Christians can't be wrong" ? That's the best logic they can come up with.
I wrote almost the same thing in another thread but...... no matter how I try I am unable to comprehend why religions continue to exist. Nay.. I know why they exist, I am unable to comprehend why people create them.

[FG Lurker]

I believe in God. It's just the slimy religious snake oil that I have a problem with...

In the words of Bono, "Stealing money from the sick and the old. Well the God I believe in isn't short of cash, mister!"

[Charles]

Hey, speaking of cults, what ever happened to the Panawave nutballs?

[sillygirl]

Hey, speaking of cults, what ever happened to the Panawave nutballs?

Oh, yeah. Forgot about them.

They came and went pretty quickly...news coverage wise that is.

Did the leader finally kick the bucket? Wasn't she sick with cancer or something?

(Sillygirl not listening properly as usual)

[Charles]

Hey, speaking of cults, what ever happened to the Panawave nutballs?

Oh, yeah. Forgot about them.

They came and went pretty quickly...news coverage wise that is.

Did the leader finally kick the bucket? Wasn't she sick with cancer or something?

(Sillygirl not listening properly as usual)

That's not how cult leaders usually work, they aren't ill at all, they just claim to be sick so they can have a miracle cure at a later date, to impress everyone.

I guess they ran out of clean white sheets and went home to do the laundry.

[sillygirl]

I guess they ran out of clean white sheets and went home to do the laundry.

Teehee!

[L S]

Snake Oil Religions in Japan?

More and more I believe that all religions are snake oil.

There is just too much bullshit spouted in the name of religion. Not to mention the hatred and wars.

That's just it! And the more followers you have have the more righteous you become. Isn't there a bumper sticker or such that goes, "170 million Christians can't be wrong" ? That's the best logic they can come up with.
I wrote almost the same thing in another thread but...... no matter how I try I am unable to comprehend why religions continue to exist. Nay.. I know why they exist, I am unable to comprehend why people create them.

I try to read a lot on social history and religion to make sense of all the shit in the world. The absolute best book I have read and which I highly recommend to everyone is called "Holy War - The Crusades on their impact on today's world" by Karen Armstrong. It's is a very thorough and objective look at the historical interactions and modern implications of Christianity, Jewdeism/Zionism and Islam. It has taught me a LOT and made sense of many of today's events (and I thought I knew a lot before I read it...wrong!). Long read at 500+pages but worth it if you want to really understand why things have become the way they are.
BTW - Karen Armstrong is an ex-Catholic nun, who later taught literature at Univ. London, then worked as journalist in Middle East. Her book A History of God was a best seller. Also did US PBS TV series "Genesis" with Bill Moyer .

[Mulboyne]

From cuddly Hiroaki Sato:

Japan Times: A fundamentalism of sorts affected Japan
The influence of fundamentalist and evangelical religion on U.S. politics, both domestic and abroad, is growing, but something similar happened during the early part of the Showa Era (1926-89)..."Religion in Japan," the Occupation's 1948 report, called Nichiren (1222-1282) -- who equated the belief in the Lotus Sutra with national salvation -- a "romantic and daring prophet." Chigaku Tanaka (1861-1939), the proselytizer of the teachings of Nichiren, took the romantic/prophet's notion several steps further and proclaimed Japan's "heaven-ordained task" was to seek to achieve "a spiritual unity" throughout the world.
...Even as the discussion for the creation of a new nation was under way, another Nichiren group had begun its move. On Feb. 27, 1932, one of its members shot and killed a former finance minister in broad daylight. Then, on March 5, another shot and killed the head of the Mitsui Group -- again in broad daylight. Ten days later, a Nichiren monk named Akira Inoue (Buddhist name Issho) turned himself in. He was the head of the "Blood League." His group's motto was "one-man-one-kill," a means he chose over a military coup for achieving national reform.
...There was another Nichiren group, this time a passive one: "The Let's Die Assembly." Dedicated to the thought of death, its followers necessarily remind one of the believers in the Rapture, though they would not have supported anything remotely resembling the invasion of Iraq.

[dimwit]

Anyone know of any good database that gives a background to all the religious cults in Japan? Just curious.

[tonikoro]

By the title of the thread, I couldn't help but be reminded of this "great" movie quote from Ahnold..

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: As belief in traditional religion fades, new spiritual movements win recruits

"My employer went bankrupt. I have no money coming in. I just don't know what to do," a 35-year-old Tokyo woman confides to a fortuneteller. "The answer is in yourself," counsels the fortuneteller. "Look into yourself [Luke]. Look within." "Thank you. I'll think that over," says the woman, apparently encouraged.