Church and State in Japan

...This govern-ment proclamation was followed by a similar one in I876...

...Thus it was but natural that they endeavored to accel- erate the enactment of a law that would give equal treatment to all religions...

...The Salvation Army would have been hit hardest by this provision, since many of its officers have had no regu- lar middle school training...

...The eighties marked a turning-point in immigration...

...But we hear it now and then...

...The right of establishing an independent church was originally granted to Christians only, but the new bill extends it to Buddhism and all other religious beliefs except Shinto...

...You came with suitcase and with manuscripts And spread your luggage in a spacious room And leaned on a railing over a pepper-tree, Over cornstalks and banana plants taller than yourself...

...Menck- en's recent attack upon Protestantism...

...I say "illuminating" because the connection between the crude, though virile, "200- percent-Amerlcan" type of the latter's intellect, and the subtle nihilistic philosophy of the lately-condemned Action Frangaise, had quite escaped me...

...It is to be put down as an improvement that the Church may, according to both the old and the new bill, incorporate as a moral person...

...The opposition in the House of Peers, the protests of various religious bodies and perhaps also the im- mediate need of passing other more important bills induced the government to pigeonhole the Religions Bill in 1927 . It has, nevertheless, not entirely given up the idea of a religious bill in some form or another, and this so much the more as the National Council of Buddhist Temples has spared no efforts to have matters of religion definitely settled by universal law...

...Persons engaged in [works of] salvation are mostly those who comprehended the crimes they had committed, so the prohibition of converted criminals from self-sacrificing service means their exclusion from religious life...

...With this development, immigration, hitherto sectional, became national in its implications, and the country at large began to share the familiar apprehension of seaboard states like New York, Massachusetts and Pennsyl-vania...

...Other points objected to are the qualifica-tions of religious workers and the requirement for religious bodies to report their basic doctrines and the structure of their organizations to the Minister of Education...

...This change, though apparently slight, is meant to meet the objection of having the Minister of Education made dictator in matters of religion...

...Instinctively all along, I have shrunk from the grossness and crudity of the American Mercury as from something evil, only occasionally glancing down its columns in order to assure my- self that prejudice was not warping my judgment...

...Any vigorous effort in this direction could have been frustrated on the mere "suspicion" that it menaced peace and general welfare...

...Miss Robins, Papist herself, can hardly be accused of anti-Catholic feeling in the matter...

...it provides that persons under bankruptcy and unable to rehabilitate, and per- sons who serve a term of two years' imprisonment, may engage as religious teachers, providing that more than two years have elapsed...

...This is true...

...O the Editor :--You say that Dora Walsh in his excellent little study, Professor Barnes and Secularism, "examines some of the evidence underlying the discussion" of the science- religion problem...

...Speaking in general, it is highly desirable that the relations between the state and the Church be regu-lated by definite law, and for this reason the new bill is to be welcomed as a fairly good solution of this delicate problem...

...And it will not forget again...

...Therefore it is necessary that pagans and Catholics should ally themselves to resist the increasing tyranny of the Bible Christian...

...The reason why the Religions Bill was so strongly opposed was the fact that it seemed to endanger the freedom of worship guaranteed by the constitution 256 THE COMMONWEAL July 3, 1929 of 1889 . Nor was this apprehension without foundation...

...On a lower level, the old anti-alien ardor still smolders, readily fanned into flame by events like the last election, but it is becoming more and more rural and subterranean in its manifestations...

...A couple of students asked me some days ago if they might sum up Dr...

...It had not forgotten Mr...

...Another clause which caused great opposition, espe- cially on the part of Protestant denominations, was the paragraph concerning the qualifications of a relig- ious worker...

...Shinto, Buddhism and Christianity were to enjoy equal rights, at least theoretically...

...She further attempts analogy between the latter and the Action Fran~aise...

...Even the name of the bill seemed to indicate that the Minister of Education was to be the dictator in matters of religion...

...Mencken is, I suppose, a pagan...

...There are many instances in which religion has converted criminals into good men...

...At last a draft of the Religions Bill was laid before the House of Peers in i927 but met with great opposition...

...Concerning the qualifications of religious workers the new bill states that such persons must be more than twenty years old, with an education at least equivalent to that of middle school or girls' high school and an additional two years' professional course in the religion they are connected with...

...Industrial depression, occurring at this time, widespread labor disturbances--frequently involving alien agitators and strikers--and the final exhaustion of the public domain further inflamed public opinion of the nation as a whole on the subject...

...A new scheme has been drawn up which avoids or changes the objectionable points of the old Religions Bill...

...The measure excluding convicts and other persons who had suffered in their good name from becoming religious teachers is also somewhat mitigated in the new draft...

...it was provided that the Minister should be entitled to stop the activities of a religious organization on the mere "suspicion" that these might be detrimental to the public wel- fare...

...You faced a mountain range holding a lake ; But in all the great homes of cloud you had nowhere to go...

...The old name of Religions Bill has been replaced by that of Religious Organizations Bill...

...Whereas the old draft comprised no less than 13o articles the new bill has only ninety- eight...

...This article provides that the Minister of Education may, when-ever it is necessary for the promotion of public inter- est, undertake to maintain order among organizations of different religions...

...The Minister of Edu- cation may also stop a religious teacher from carrying on his work when he recognizes that the conduct on the part of the teacher violates peace and order, de- moralizes custom or interferes with a subject's duties...

...A government proclamation in I873 abol- ished the old laws against Christianity and gave every citizen freedom of religious worship...

...The Anti-Semitic Society it- self, indeed, has a Philadelphian for president...

...The result has been an increasing conviction that for the clientele of The Commonweal the opinion of Mr...

...The first attempt in this respect was made in I898 but proved a complete failure...

...The law demanded as a minimum re- quirement a middle school education and in addition at least two years of a professional training...

...Another stumbling block was the exclusion of ex-convicts from the post of religious workers...

...Hence the only concession on the part of the government is the possi- bility of replacing a middle school education by some other equivalent...

...One must also acknowledge the fact that the government has represented at least two Christian denominations in the special research commission for the revising of the old bill...

...Surely your correspondent must know that Catholic ethics are enlargement of the noble pagan foundations of Aristotle, whereas it is the melancholy fact that the ethics of Bible Christians seem to be falling to the level of irrational taboos...

...To a Disappointed Pilgrim You had nowhere to rest your discontented heart, Loving that heart too well to set it free...

...Such an arrangement, it is pointed out, would put the Governor practically in the position of a Pope...

...Father Tsuchihashi, S.J., of the Catholic University, Tokio, and Bishop Kogoro Uzaki of the Methodist Church, were members of this commission...

...With due reservations, the Catholic believes in both, plus Revelation...

...This clause was primarily meant to prevent excessive sectarianism among Bud- dhists, but it was also directly opposed to the Protes- tant principle according to which everyone should have the right of founding a new religion...

...COMMUNICATIONS MR...

...It received refined but bitter utterance through Elizabeth Robins, returned from a lengthy so- journ abroad to find her quiet Quaker city a polyglot metropolis...

...One important change was meant to win over Buddhism and Shinto...

...Nor would this provision of the law have been free from danger for the spread of Catholicism...

...There was, however, no formal law that guar- anteed religious liberty until I889, when the new con- stitution was enacted...

...The new draft was approved by a general meet- ing of the Special Commission of the Ministry of Edu- cation on January 18, 1929 , and is expected to be turned over to the Board of Legislation for inspection...

...The press has learned caution, and politically the "national blocs" have begun to loom formidably enough in the elector- ate to awe the average run of office-seeker...

...The new arrivals no longer stopped along the crowded eastern seaboard, but penetrated into the interior, now becoming rapidly in- dustrialized, creating a social and economic problem wherever they settled in large numbers...

...Mencken does not matter, notwithstanding an occasional "community of interest between Catholicism and himself...

...For the same reason the authorities may also limit or prohibit the propaga- tion of a religious creed and observance of religious ceremonies or rites whenever they deem that such practice is prejudicial to peace and order and incon- sistent with the duty of subjects...

...As a result, it was never introduced into the lower House...

...It is an open secret that the solid Democratic vote of the Vare wards in the presidential election was something more than enfranchised thirst...

...The settling of mat- ters of "religious ceremony and creed" is, however, explicitly excepted from the Minister's activities...

...The truth is, the heavy Italian population in this section was killing two birds with one ballot, paying its re-spects to Mr...

...According to the Religions Bill the Minister claimed the right of stopping activities of religious bodies on the mere suspicion of their being detrimental to the public welfare, but the new bill gives him merely the right of stepping in when those activities are evidently opposed t~, the common weal...

...At about this time Congress seriously took up the task of regula- tion, hitherto in the hands of the individual states, the Supreme Court having decided in x 875 that immi- gration was a matter for federal action...

...The Japan Advertiser notes that: the criminal law punishes offenses but not offenders themselves...

...T PROFESSOR BARNES AND SECULARISM Notre Dame, Ind...

...The individual Protestant or Bible Christian believes in neither, but interprets Revelation after a fashion hostile to both...

...hers are sentimental regrets over a vanishing society, "seen through the witchery of intervening years...

...Even then the matter was settled only in a general way in that every Japanese citizen was given the right of becoming a member of a Christian denomination, "in so far as peace and order and his duties as a subject should not be threat- ened thereby...

...Meanwhile many gov- ernment regulations have been issued dealing almost exclusively with Buddhism and Shinto, so that these religious organizations were indeed in a less favorable condition than the various Christian denominations...

...July 3, i929 THE COMMONWEAL 255 was particularly strong in Pennsylvania, electing a mayor in Philadelphia and, according to Horace Greeley, capturing virtually the state's entire delega- tion to the Thirty-fifth Congress...

...it was a live topic, and I only requested them to...

...he sifts the evidence in a small part of this big field, and I think his willingness to look for and at the evidence, and to be guided by it, and to wait for more--in a word, to be open-minded--is as striking as the pertinent facts and theories which he cites...

...July3, I929 THE COMMONWEAL 257 There seems to be reasonable hope for the success of the new bill...

...At the same time a vigorous campaign was launched against it by the various religious organizations, above all by the Buddhists and Protestants...

...This shows, at all events, that the government was eager to please all of the parties involved...

...This appearance of similarity of interest, based as it is on ideals differing as night from day, as good from evil, when stressed by The Commonweal carries with it a sense of confusion of issues...

...Wine casks are too plentiful in South Philadelphia cellars for that...

...the sections having to do with the transfer of land owned by shrines and temples were struck out and will be treated by a special law...

...So for- midable, indeed, that when Senator Reed yields to his pet phobia in the Senate chamber it must greatly per- turb his as yet unseated colleague, Mr...

...As early as t699 there was a statute on her books designed "to pre-vent too great a number of Irish Papists being im- ported into this province" and carrying a twenty-shilling head tax on all Irish servants brought in...

...Yet the Presbyterian Church considers Article 8 as an interference in the self-government of religious organizations...

...Much the same emotion stirs William Bullitt in his single, savage Philadelphia novel--inclining in his case some- what to anti-Semitism...

...It is now under discussion by a special commission composed of thirty members, eight Buddhist priests, five Shinto priests, two Christian preachers and fifteen scholars, members of the Diet and the Privy Council and other government officials...

...Articles 6 and 7 are also ob-jected to, because they invest the local authorities with power to supervise the affairs of religious organiza-tions...

...The tide attained unprecedented proportions in these years, the normal flow from northern countries being augmented by the vanguard of the movement from southern and eastern Europe...

...he believes in human instincts and in the human reason...

...The Catholics also apprehend that Article 8 may possibly lead to unjustified governmental interference, but we have nothing to fear concerning the require-ments for religious teachers or the obligation of re-porting the bases of our organization, because all Catholic religious teachers are highly educated and sectarianism is out of question in the Catholic Church...

...If the bill should be passed Buddhism could no longer complain of not being treated on an equal footing with other beliefs...

...Another noteworthy change in the bill is its brevity...

...WITTER BYNNER...

...T Washington, D. C. O the Editor :--As one who profits by constant reading of The Commonweal, permit me to congratulate you for publishing, in your current issue, the illuminating communica-tion of Louise Carey Rossett, re your editorial on Mr...

...The Buddhists will, on the whole, give it their wholehearted support, although some individual members may disagree...

...I respectfully submit that it is high time to bring this controversy down to first principles...

...If, by any chance, she could care for a more detailed treatment of the subject she will find it in the epilogue of my little book on The Inquisition...

...A definite law concerning the practical execution of this constitutional enactment was to follow later...

...ELIZABETH S. KITE...

...HOFFMAN NICKERSON...

...Thus the Minister of Education would prac- tically have enjoyed the power to decide whether a religion was to be considered salutary or detrimental to the general welfare...

...The authorities hope to have it in proper form to submit to the Diet soon...

...The new draft is only a revised form of the old bill, but noteworthy changes have been made...

...Reed's filibuster on this same national-origins matter in the closing hours of the last Congress...

...Thereafter Pennsylvania's voice, though still raised, was drowned in the general outcry...

...Furthermore, Philadelphia was chosen as friendly ground for the party's convention in 1855, at which Millard Fill-more was nominated for the Presidency...

...Vare...

...MENCKEN ONCE MORE Oyster Bay, L. I. T O the Editor :--In your issue of June 5, Louise Carey Rossett most unjustly attacks you for saying a few deserved good words of H. L. Mencken...

...Incidentally, Fillmore succeeded in winning but a single state in the election--and that state Maryland l The record of the "Free State," if truth be told, is hardly better than Pennsylvania's on this issue...

...The Presbyterians declare that the law in-creases the opportunities for the governors to abuse their power...

...Whereas, according to the old draft, every new religious organization had to apply for its recognition to the Minister of Education, it is now sufficient to report to the Ministry within four- teen days after the foundation of the new religion...

...The difficulties and necessary limitations of co6peratlon between those of different faiths are obvious enough...

...These are the principal changes in the Religions Bill and the ones which were mainly insisted upon by the various religious organizations...

...According to the opinion of the Buddhists and Protestants it is a great improvement over the old draft, in that the law guar- antees everyone the right of founding a new religion...

...The Protestants also find less fault with the new bill than with the old draft...

...Certainly they might...

...Barnes's views for a week's work...

...CHURCH AND STATE IN JAPAN By JOHANNES LAURES S INCE the termination of the persecution in the seventies of the nineteenth century, the Catholic Church has enjoyed liberty in the Land of the Rising Sun...

...Reed as well as to prohibition...