THE K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
February, 1937
48
Should Christians Bow the Knee?
A Religious Crisis in Eastern Asia
By Samuel Fisk* Siloam Springs, Arkansas
the Imperial office lays claim not only to divine sanction but to divine origin as well. A writer for a department of the Japanese Government Railways speaks of "the pres ent Emperor who, like his successive divine predeces sors, occupies the Throne by divine right, representing di vinity in humanity . . .” This belief accounts for the sa cred esteem in which the emperor is held. Anything like caricaturing His Im perial Majesty is looked upon as sacrilege, and is bitterly resented even abroad, while of course it never occurs at home. S u ppo r tin g N a t ion a l ism w it h R eligious F ervor Practically every one is familiar with the fact that at the present time Japan is endeavoring to maintain a strong policy in the Far East. In order to accomplish this and the ends she would achieve by it, she desires not only com plete internal harmony but also absolute submission to the national government and its policies. Taxes and other government demands are becoming a great burden to the people. T o meet the situation, the party now in power is strengthening all national forces which, directly or in directly, tend to foster patriotism and national prestige. This policy becomes very evident to the careful observer of conditions in Japan, especially if he has the opportunity to view circumstances at close range in Japan and her territories. Modern means of shaping public thought are being used to secure loyalty to Japan. For years there have been Shinto shrines and Shinto temples throughout Japan. Today we observe that their * Director of the Bible Department, John Brown University. Mr. Fisk is a former student of the Bible Institute of Los An geles. He has traveled in the Orient and obtained first-hand information of the matters of which he writes.
Above: Huge bronze Buddha, or Diabutsu, Kamakura, Japan, founded A. D. 1252. Bud dhism, throughout its history, has always been ready to adapt itself to changing conditions. Many Japanese have long paid their respects at both Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. Right: Torii (arched gateway) at the beau tiful Miyajima Shrine, Inland Sea, Japan. T HERE has been considerable concern lately, among those interested in the cause of Christian missions in the Far East, because of new developments on the part o f Japan with regard to her attitude toward certain religious issues. As Japan’s political dominance and influ ence is spreading in the Orient, the crisis is becoming of more widespread concern. What are the present conditions, and what is the future outlook? The ancient religious cult of Japan is known as Shinto. It was indigenous to Japan and heretofore has never been regarded as a missionary religion. Its basis lies in a primi tive mythology with legends about an “ Ancestral Sun- Goddess” who bestowed special blessings upon the found ing of the Japanese empire. Her great-great-grandson, so the tales run, became the first emperor of Japan. The Japanese people are exceedingly proud of the fact that they are the only nation in the world which can lay claim to one unbroken line of rulers, the present emperor being able to trace his succession back to the first em peror, Jimmu Tenno, about whom much of this ancient lore centers. They somehow consider this a great contri bution to modern civilization, and already prepartions are being made for an enormous International Exposition to be held in Tokyo in 1940 commemorating, as they claim, the twenty-six-hundreth year of the founding of the em pire. Through this relation with the gods of mythology,
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