Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-29
Christians N JAPAN
They Are to Be Found in
Every Walk of Life.
NOTABLE INSTANCES
EFFORTS TO ORGANIZE A MA
TIoNAL CHURCH.
Policy Of the Observation-Disclosures
Of the Religious I'M
partial.
NOTABLE INSTANCES
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record-Herald.
TOKYO. July %, 1904
A veteran correspondent, who ought to
have known better. seems to have been
misled by Inaccurate translations of reports
| in the native daily newspapers, telesrapheo
| to London daily that mass meeting OF
clergymen of all denominations had been
| held in Tokyo on the 18th of May last, for
the purpose of organizing national church
and making Christianity the national re-
ligion of Japan Both the religious and
secular newspapers of the United States
! have allowed themselves to be humbugged
| by that dispatch in manner that mas
amused and amazed the American clergy In
this country The organs of almost every
Protestant denomina ton and leading peri
odieals of the United States appear to have
accepted the story as true, and have COM
mented upon it in the wisest and most SEN
tentious manner. There Is, unfortunateiy,not
a word of truth In it, or even an excuse for
such deception.
1t is true that mass meeting OF cIersy
men was held on the 18th of May in Tokyo,
and that 1t was attended and addressed by
representatives Of all the Christian ana
Buddhist sects-Roman Catholics, Orthadox
Greek, Evangelical Protestant. Unitarian,
Universalist-and of almost every society
calling itself religious or having relations
with religios affairs. The OBJECT Oh
the meeting was not to organize ma
tional church or promote the interests OF
Christianity, but to counteract an impress
sion for which Russian agents are supposed
to be responsible. that the present war Is
conflict between Christianity as represented
by Russia and Paganism as represented
by Japan. 1t is the desire and intention Oh
all the religious organizations in the Jap
aneSe empire to repudiate and denounce sucn
a perversion of the facts; to declare that
vaif bnr oofol nnr
involved in the conflict. and that Chris
tianity has nothing to fear and much to
gain by the triumph Of the japanese
armies.
How anybody could have been deceived
by the complete and accurate reports of
the speeches and resolutions of that gath
ering in the local papers is a mystery. Tor
such thing as making Christianity a state
of religion has not been considered or even
suggested for thirty years. not since the
first Japanese embassy that visited Europe
reported against it because Of the crime
and vice, poverty and wretchedness they
found in Christian countries.
Effort to Form a National Church.
There have been. however spasmodic agi-
tations by irresponsible people. Several
years ago national spirit and pride inspired
some of the Protestant pastors to organize
what they called THE National Christian
Church OF Japan" a distinctly national
church. Independent Of all denomina tons
and foreign influences and associations.
with creed broad enough to embrace Cal
vinists and Universalists. They wanted it
to be to Japan what the Church of England
is to Great Britain. and argued that a
purely japanese organization, appealing to
the patriotism and pride, well as the re.
Hgious sentiment, of the community. would
command the support and cooperation of
the educated classes who have discarded
Buddhism but have not accepted Chris
tianity. They argued also that a distinctly
nh, b. n
inroads among the Bhuddist gpopu1a ton
than can possibly be expected from foreign
missionaries. They believed that they
could obtain the sanction and patronage of
the government and a subsidy from the
public treasury, and were sanguine enough
to assert that such an organiza ton would
| develop in numbers and influence until it
| embra ced within it's folds all believers in
| the existence of Supreme Creator, In the
redemption and the truth Of the Holy
Scriptures.
! About ten years ago the gentlemen who
| have been active in this movement went so
| but when 1t was submitted for the criticism
Of two or three venerable missionaries such
| serious defects and omissions were dscov-
cred that the authors Withdrew the docu-
ment and nothing has been heard of 1t
since.
The gentlemen are still at work. however
and are still confident of their ability to
| formulate a creed that everybody ortho-
| dox or hereto, liberal and conservative,
| may accept. In order to accomplish this
| the amiable theologians will amt all ref
erenceS to dogmaS that are not agreeable
to the persons whose support they seek.
! They want their church to be different
| from all other churches. They want 1t to
be unique and individual. Hence for obvi-
GUS reasons they have not made much
| progress
The Policy Of the Government.
| 1t is true that many earnest and honest
| men who have not been able to satisfy the
| cravings Of their souls in the Buddhist or in
| the Christian faith. and who feel the need
| of a religion both for themselves and for
| their nation, would be glad to have some
modified creed. based upon the fundament-
| al doctrines of Christianity, adopted as the
| established religion of Japan, but it Is
against the policy of the government and is
| opposed by the leaders of all the many po-
] litical parties There is no doubt that the
| multiplicity of denomina tion-there are
| thirty Protestant organiZati ons doing mis-
| sionary work IN Japan-has been a serious
| handicap to Christian progress and unity.
| The fact has given scoffers an excuse to
| say that the Christians cannot agree among
| themselves as to the meaning of their own
| Bible, or as to the proper way of salvation
| and no doubt converts are often bewildered
and demoralized by their inability to ap-
| preciate the fine distinctions upon which
| Protestants have split But they ought to
! be used to 1t by this time, for doctrinal dis
| sensons in the Buddhist church-which Is
| the accepted faith of the great mass of the
! japanese people-have been quite sharp and
| active as among Christians, and believers
| in Buddha are now divided into eight sects
| with subsects to the number of thirty-five
| Many of them show quite as much hostility
| toward the others as was ever found In
| rivalries among the Christian churches
| The government of Japan Is absolutely
! impartial in its relations to the various re-
| ligions and sects. except in its support of
| the ancient Shinto organization which, as
! I have already explained to you. Is more
| patriotism than religion. The Christian
| denominations are often favored by the
| emperor and his officials in a manner which
/ shows appreciation Of their value to the
| people and the country. At the beginning
| Of the war the prime minister issued an
| edict declaring that the adherents of all
| churches were equally interested in the
| triumph of Japan and warning the natives
| to conduct themselves accordingly The
| minister of home affairs issued a circular
| to the Buddhist and Shinto priests and to
| the clergy of the various Christian denomi-
| nations to the same effect, advising them
| that no religious questions were involved
| in the conflict. Christian chaplains have
| been assigned to all the armies in numbers
| proportionate to Christian believers in the
| ranks; Christian chaplalns are attached to
| oil hosDitals and the christian re1iofoy {s