I don't think Scorsese and I are on the same page, however....

Rating: 8/10 (14 March 2017)

...as an atheist I still found great value in this picture.
At the very end of the movie, between the end scene and the credit, is a tribute to the persecuted Japanese Catholics and their pastors. It was that tribute that made me feel a bit like this was Scorsese's own religious convictions breaking the fourth wall. That this was, in a way, his Schindler's List.
As an atheist I find the general idea of religion to be preposterous, illogical and rightly questioned. However, I feel that for me this movie helped to illustrate something very important. Firstly that you cannot kill an idea if someone truly believes in it, and secondly that our actions and our morality are not defined by the superficial....the greatest irony coming out of this being that the movie does, if anything, question religion as much as it seemingly advocates it with it's dedication.
I have read that the movie is said to demonise Buddhism. I did not find this to be so. I found it to be very respectful of it. Indeed, the movie helps to illustrate how people claim to follow peaceful faiths, but are in reality scared of ideas and the loss of control. Perhaps another irony that Scorsese maybe did not mean to present, given his own Catholicism, and give the history of the Catholic church, is that he makes a very good case against the proselytizing carried out by pretty much every major religion of today, including his own. He also makes a good case for demonstrating that religion is, and always has been, simply an idea, and that it is one's belief and loyalty in that idea that makes them who they are. That faith in anything, but a religious idea, or a belief in fundamental human rights and civil liberties, should be one that is ultimately determined by the individual in heart and mind.
My only complaint is that I found the movie somewhat simplistic. It was obvious from a third of the way in how the movie was going to end, and I say that while not being familiar with the original source material. But this is perhaps not as a great a criticism as maybe it could be because the movie gives plenty to think about throughout. Many have called the movie overlong and boring. On this I couldn't disagree more. It is very refreshing to watch a movie driven by thought and contemplation, rather than style, clichés and breakneck speed.
Recommended.