CPTnet
20 October 2007
JAPAN REFLECTION: Yasukuni Shrine, God and country
by Gene Stoltzfus
[The following reflection by CPT Director Emeritus Gene Stoltzfus has been
edited for length and clarity. People wishing to see the original piece
will find it at http://gstoltzfus.blogspot.com/2007/10/yasukuni-shrine-god-and-country.html
]
Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution reads
"Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order,
the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation
and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.
"In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and
air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained--."
Aging Japanese politician Yasuo Fukuda became Prime Minister this month.
People in Japan who oppose the growing Japanese military establishment will
watch for how the new Prime Minister leads under the pressure of those who
seek the Japanese dominance in Asia that collapsed at the end of World War
II. Besides decisions like the continued deployment of the Japanese Navy to
provide logistical support for Afghanistan's war, the Japanese working
against remilitarization will have their eyes glued to two additional
bellwether symbols:
1) Will the new Prime Minister make occasional "private" visits to Tokyo's
Yasukuni Shrine, which in Shinto tradition, protects and respects the
spirits of the Japanese war dead? The shrine incorporates a museum
celebrating militarization of Japan that culminated in imperial crimes
throughout Asia and causes grave anxiety among East and Southeast Asian
nations.
2) Will the new Prime Minister give hints of his government's attitudes
towards a dropping the controversial pacifist plank from the post war
constitution? U.S. policy has encouraged Japanese rearmament, first in the
Cold War, then in the war on terrorism.
In 2005 when I visited Japan, my hosts in Tokyo and the Northern Island of
Hokkaido urged me to visit the Yasukuni Shine. I am glad that I did. In a
time when western nations attribute the sinister influence of religion to
Muslim nations, we should note that in the two states with the largest
economies, zealous religious minorities are regularly pushing their
governments to link the state with God(s) or the will of heaven.
While in Japan I learned there are more than 2000 local committees working
for the protection of Article 9. Japanese Christians, although only one
percent of the population, are especially active in these committees and
other peace groups. When our Japanese friends speak out against
institutions like the Yasukuni shrine, the public and the press attack their
patriotism. American Christians who challenge the marriage of Christianity
and militarism find themselves attacked too.
The flowering of civil religion throughout world history, the blessing of
heaven for the state, results in militarism, distant wars, and crimes
against humanity. Although the mid-term elections in the U.S. hinted at a
rejection of militaristic Christianity by American voters, the ballot box
can only partially untangle the relationship between religion and the state.
The real completion begins and ends in the hearts and actions of people who
remain rooted in a spiritual centre that will survive and even flourish
despite the press releases, innuendo, and sometimes direct persecution by
the machinery of the modern Japanese, or American states.
_______________
To stop receiving messages from CPTNET on MennoLink, do NOT hit reply. Send
a message with only the word, "suspend," in the body to
server@MennoLink.org.
Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) seeks to enlist the whole church in
organized, nonviolent alternatives to war and places teams of trained
peacemakers in regions of lethal conflict. Originally a violence-reduction
initiative of the historic peace churches (Mennonite, Church of the Brethren
and Quaker), CPT now enjoys support and membership from a wide range of
Christian denominations.
To ask questions or express concerns, criticisms and affirmations send
messages to peacemakers@cpt.org.
To receive news or discussion of CPT issues by e-mail, fill out the form
found on our WEB page at http://www.cpt.org/subscribe.php
Donate to CPT on-line with your credit card! Go to
http://cpt.org/donate.php and click the DONATE button to make a
contribution through Network for Good, a secure way to help support CPT.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Nov 01 2007 - 09:00:53 EDT