Los Angeles herald., 1906-01-31
ATHEISM CROWS
AMONG JAPANESE
DR.. M0LONY TELLS OF TASK
CONFRONTING CHURCH
Speaker at Newman Club Tells Hear
ers That Rising Generation Of
Mikado's Subjects Must
BE Converted

JHpdny llS BAStt Present anu aluit
From a Catholic Standpoint" was the
topic of an able paper read last even
ing by DR.. w. r. Molony before the
Newman club at its monthly dinner
at the Angelus. An interesting
event Of the evening was the read
ing of a letter written by Cardi-
nal Newman to DR.. Hyden in 1858,
which was read by J. p. Coyne.
DR.. Molony's paper was interesting
and instructive, giving facts and fig
ures Of the early missionaries who
went to Japan and their struggles.
He said:
"The maxims Of the gospel were re-
pugnant to all of their preconceived
habits and ideas. To men accustomed
to look upon suicide as heroic courage
and to reckon riches and pleasures as
though they were virtues, the poverty,
meekness and chastity inculcated by
the precepts of Christianity would
have been preached in vain without
that special gift of mission which Is
the prerogative OF the Catholic church
the mark by which you may know
her among thousands and that which
Christ himself conferred on her in
those memorable words, Go and teach
all nations
Tells Of xaviers Mission
Dr. Molony then gave detailed de-
scription of the mission Of Xavier, who
| first taught the Catholic doctrine In
india and Japan and summary of the
work which followed, stating that there
are now $4,000 native Catholics in
Japan, and that the preeont emperor
and his ministers are favorable to
| Catholicism. Speaking Of their re-
| ligons DR.. Molony continued:
THE people of Japan profess the re-
| ligon of Budda, believe in Shintoism,
which is nature and ancestor worship,
and in Bushdo. Now, what is Bush
| ido2 Sunshine is the dominant moral
power of Japan. 1t is based on manlf-
ness and honor. 1t has in 1t Confu-
clan element; 1t derived something
| from Buddhism and owes something to
| Shntoism. 1t teaches man that he
must preserve his health, not for
healths sake but for the pleasure that
good health gives to his parents and
| to the profit of his employer. The sense
| of shame is keenly cultivated and the
conscience is the criterion of right and
wrong. Other virtues inculcated by 1T
are patriotism, love and loyalty to the
| emperor and filial piety.
Atheism Taught in Schools
Marriage is recognized by law as an
institution because 1t is regarded as a
means of perpetuating the worship of
ancestors. AIter CdTelul ISNicW VI
the conditions of Japanese society and
in view of the obstacles and disad-
vanta ges under which the missionaries
labor the hope of rapid progress is
| very meager.
According to Father Ferrand of
| Toxic the present trend of intellectual
| life in Japan, particularly in the CEN
ter OF education, Toxic, is directed by
principles Numerically opposed to the
| co;r;+ ,,,,5 tha FOO ching Df the church.
at may be said without exaggeration
that the leading classes in Japanese So
ciety. both the governing and teach
ing bodies, profess absolute rational
ism; atheism is officially taught in the
schools, applauded by the press,
preached by the so-called scholars and
philosophers. 1t permeates and honey
combs official Toxic and seems to form
an integral part of the progress Of
those who govern new Japan.
church's Conquest in Japan
"under such conditions of intel
lectual life, public opinion is adverse
to Catholic thought and antagonistic
to the doctrines of him who is the GEN.
tral influence of that mental progress
which has changed the face of the
astern world, nor is this the only OBJ
stacle to the church's conquest OF
Japan.
"To the keen intellect of the Japan
ese Christianity is a Kingdom divided
against itself With the advent of
niIm berless missionary adventures,
nrofessing Protestant Christianity and
in conflict with one another in their
teaching with but one common char
Iacteristic, namely, hatred for the
catholic church. the isolated empire
stands amazed, unable to reconcile the
spectacle OF so many rival and contra !.
dictory exponents of the claims or
Christianity. Sustained by immense
money resources (said to be more than
the entire amount at the disposal Of
the pope for all missionary purposes),
favored by the influences and patron
age which the English language has of
late enjoyed in Japan, the ministers
from England and America have ex-
hausted every system of religious
propaganda, yet without obtaining any
solid results. ,
Professionalism Causes Atheism
"They have flooded the land with
millions of Bibles. These, admitting
the principle of being Interpreted ac-
cording to the judgment of the reader,
have led the Japanese to class the
sacred book amongst ancient legends,
to be read merely as distinction and
never to be taken seriously. Protest
antisn has offered to pagan Japan a
christianity so cold, so stripped of
living practical principle, so devoid Of
solid foundation, with adherents divid-
ed into numerous small sects, that the
intelligent Japanese shrug their shoul-
ders and turn their heads away.
"Thus it has happened that Protest
antism has, without wishing or sus-
Meeting 1t, been the occasion, more than
any other agency, of throwing this
country into the fatal current of athe-
istic rationalism, which predominates
everywhere among the educated.
Would Convert All Japan
"These facts will enable us to realize