p. 8 | A Serious Situation

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 12, 1912

A Serious Situation

CHRISTIANITY is in the greatest peril when it seeks an alliance with the state, or lowers its standard by compromising with false religions or worldly influences. That this temptation confronts Christianity in Japan is evident from the efforts now being made by the false religious systems of that country to effect a basis of cooperation with the religion of Christ. The Christian Observer of Aug. 28, 1912, speaks regarding this effort of heathenism:—

A serious situation exists in the attitude of Japan toward Christianity. The Japan Advertiser, of Tokio, is authority for a statement that the proposed "new religion for that country is to be in the nature of a rapprochement between Shintoism, Buddhism, and Christianity," and that it will include among other things the introduction of religious teaching in the public schools. For many centuries Shintoism and Buddhism have existed in Japan as distinct religions, and the project for combining them with Christianity can not be regarded as promising success. The attitude of Japan clearly indicates that both Shintoism and Buddhism have failed to satisfy the religious needs of the soul. The Japanese effort to combine Christianity with these two forms of heathenism must, of necessity, result in failure. There are so many points at which Christianity antagonizes every form of so-called religion that even the ingenuity of the Japanese will prove incapable of bringing about an amalgamation of Christianity with their ancestral faiths.