The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-08-15

WASHINGTON, Aug. IA Religious
freedom In the United States shelters
under It's tolerant and ample folds thou
sands of Representatives OF number Of
the so-caed heathcn beliefs, In addition
to more than 200 various sects OF Chr'se
tianity. according to census bureau sta :
tistics dealing with the religious life OF
the country. Among the former are
Buddhists. Confucianists and Bahaists.
who are engaged IN an organized way In
the spread of their doctrines In this coun-
try
The da;n forming the basis OF the
volume In question was entnerea III lsoo,
surance as TO when II will be given 10 the
public. In addition 10 statistics OF the
various denominalions, the work VII pre-. re
sent brief history OF each; also the
pertinent facts regarding their doctrine
and polty. The compilation is the work
OF Or. Edwin NJ Bliss.
Up to the time OF the investigation
there had been no effort to effect any
organization for the promotion OF Con-
fucianism, but the text tells OF a society
of the Chinese sages followers which non
was organized In New York City in 1907
among the Mongoian students in Column
bia university. Contending that Budd-
dertook to demonstrate that Confu-
cianism was a real religion, and so A
regular system OF services was estab-
Mshed by we'll defined organization:
The organized followers OF Buddhism
are Chinese and japanese Their
churches. known officially as temples
by the irTeNefent, are TeterTeu 10 dS JoSS
houses There are sixty-two Chinese and
twelve Japanese temples In this country,
the former being distributed over Twelve,
the latter over three states California
shelters all but three of the Japanese ana
more than half of the Chinese houses.
About forty, which went down under the
San Francisco cataclysm, had renamed
In ruins to the time of the enumera-
New York boosted fifteen OF the Chi
nese temples. the remainder being scat scat
The 1spea Chinese ShHl Sc" Buddhists have only
priest in this country and conduct no
recognized system Of worship. There Is
no record Of memSsFshp tney nave nave
religious service. The only use Tor their
temples is as places at which lnelviaua'
devotees may consult their patron saints
Three deities are recognized In the Amer
lean temples-the god kuan. mighty
duke OF the ancient Han dynasty. the
goddess OF Fortune and the goddess OF
Mercy,
Less Austere Buddhists.
The American Japanese Buddhists are
of the progressive Shin Shiu sect. which
IS missionary in character. They discard
the ascetic practices OF the more austere
Buddhists OF Asia. allow the priests 20
marry and have no ban on meat or other
food. The societies are well organized
each having priest General headquar-
ters are in San Francisco, and they nave
both journals and schools devoted TO the
propagation OF the faith. In 1906 the
membership In this country was 2SS7
OF which 71S were females
There IS no Shintoism. an explanation
of which Is found In the fact that this
religion attaches Itself too closely to the
person OF the Japanese emperor.
In a way, the Hindu religion is repre-
scented by the Nedanta society. with or
ganzations IN New York. Plttsburg. San
Francisco and Los Angeles. 1t was or
ganized by some Hindu teachers who
came here In 1899 10 the Worlds fair
Its name, from an ancient Hindu philoso-
ply means "the end OF all wisdom" II
is non -sectarian seeking to harmonic all
religious systems. Oriental philosophers,
as taught by the Theosophists. have four
bodies, with 1886 members. in the United
Estates.
While Bahaism. strictly speaking, is 2
non Christian and foreign. its followers
are native and not necessarily un- Chris
tian. This is q compare lively new sect
growing out Of the teachings OF a Persian
leader of the middle OF the last century
named All Mohammed. He claimed to be
the forerunner OF him whom Cod would
manifest" and called himself Bah, or
"the gate" Later came Beha Ullaa who
claimed 10 be the one whose coming haO
been foretold, and from him the real name
OF the body is derived. In 1905 he had