Yasukuni Shrine: Separation Of Church And State

Kanetomo’s description of Honjaku-engi reveals that this type of Shinto was heavily influenced by the shrine traditions during that time. Based on Kanetomo’s definition of Honjaku-engi, I believe that this type of Shinto connects people with their spirituality through shrine rituals. By passing down the stories, secrets, and rituals of the Kami worshipped at the shrine, worshippers are able to connect the physical world with the spiritual world (Debary 352).

"Separation of church and state" is a well-known figure of speech. Equally understandable is the metaphorical meaning of the church remaining out of the state's business and the state remaining out of the church's business. Most people erroneously credit this famous analogy to the U.S. Constitution; however, President Thomas Jefferson originally coined the actual phrase “wall of separation between the church and the state” in a letter to the Danbury Baptists on January 1, 1802. His purpose was to alleviate their fears over the lack in their state constitution of explicit protection of religious liberty, and against a government establishment of religion. President Jefferson explained that this “wall” had been constructed to protect them. The

Firstly, the traditions within Shintoism were important to help the Japanese people to connect with their ancestors and the nature around them. The word ‘Shinto’ itself means way of the gods. It is as old as the Japanese culture and was the only religion in Japan until the 6th century. According to the Shinto religion, there exists a basic life force called kami. Kami are close to human beings and respond to human prayers. They can influence the course of natural forces, and human events. Shinto tradition says that there are eight million kami in Japan. Due to their deep respect and love for nature and Japan itself, many shrines were set up in places of natural beauty. Followers went to pray here to receive good fortune and samurai would often go to the shrines to pray for victory before and after battle. Shinto’s traditions involved having a clean lifestyle. They washed and bathed everyday which made most of japan a fresh

First, let’s talk about Ise Jingu situated in Japan. It is the largest Shinto shrine located in the city of Ise. Millions of people make their pilgrimage to this shrine for either tourism or religious purposes. It holds a lot of both spiritual and historical value of Japan. Spiritually as the shrine was made in light of the Sun Goddess Amaterasu Omikami, and the traditional progenitor of the imperial Japanese family, later another God Toyaku Okami being another sacred being, being worshipped. (Pletcher) The architectural design of the shrine consists of many rows of buildings but the most distinct are two large huts, being the inner (Naiku) and outer shrine (Geku). (Pletcher) Naiku was first constructed, which had the Goddess of Amaterasu, later Geku with the intention of worshipping Toyaku Okami, the god of food and benevolence. (Pletcher) The shrine is surrounded by a thick forest, which the buildings were made from. Using the essence of nature, or “ke”, the priests and priestesses used the surrounding trees as the buildings blocks of the shrine, as the trees had much devotion and spirituality of the Japanese people.

In the United States, religion and government have been separated from one another for many years. The reason being is that there are so many religions these days, and people would argue about which religion would take political power, ultimately resulting in conflicts and fights. Many centuries ago, each country had only one primary religion which every citizen practiced. In Italy for example, their official religion was Christianity, and having Christian beliefs intertwined in government allowed Italians to follow their religions rules along with the rules the government has as well. While some people may think that having religion and government together would be a good thing, many citizens living in Europe between the 12th and 16th century did not.

Separation of church and state was a big issue in the beginning of Christianity, mostly because it didn't exist. God supposedly chose the emperor Constantine and in turn Constantine chose Christianity as the empire's official religion. The union of church and state may not have been as great a problem if freedom of speech had also existed. It seems weird to imagine a right that I have taken for granted all of my life not to be present. Pagans experience a loss of political rights and status. Anti-pagan and anti-Semitic preaching rallied everyone against the "outsiders." Those, such as the popes, that enjoyed high ranks in Christianity now enjoyed high ranks in the government. Those, such as the emperor, that enjoyed high ranks in the government now enjoyed high ranks in Christianity. The line

The separation of church and state is a very discussed topic. There are some situations where there is no separation of church and state, for example government funding of religious schools where money is given to the religious school and or program. Another example is prayer at a public school event such a graduation; the program is started with a prayer. Many also say that the abortion laws violate the separation of church and state. The last example of which students are familiar with is the pledge of alliance that is said every morning includes the words under god; this shows the flaw in the separation of church and state. There are also examples of clear separation of church and state, for example in some schools no one single religion is being

The separation of the state and church refers to the distinct distance in the relationship that exists between the national state and the organized church. Although the aspect of separation between the state and the church has worked in a number of nations, the degree of separation varies depending on the valid legal policies and laws in relationship with the prevalence views on the religious aspect of the society. In most of the nations that practice such separation, there exists distinct rules and regulation between church and state. However, between the two entities, there will always exists a way through which the two entities will interact and consult each other as individual entities (Hamburger 67). People should not push Christian

In Japan, religion is not shared amongst a community or even discussed openly but is a private family affair. There is no one preaching or readings from sacred writings or religious prayers at schools because what they believe is based on a moral code. That if they live the way of passion and love that nothing shall hurt or harm them or their family. By how they live, Japanese social and cultural values are difficult to tell apart.

The purpose for this amendment was to protect religion from the government. It was to limit their power and secure the freedom of each individual as well as the right of the states. A wall was never intended to stand in the way. But as the years went on and more people were going to court over different religious views, this wall got bigger and bigger. Over 6,000 cases were formed since 1962 over religious expressions in different public institutions and public life ("The Wall of Separation Between Church and State | Foundation for Economic Education."). Different cases such as prayer in schools, verses on the walls, or how a homosexual newspaper could be given out but not a religious one were all examples of the different bricks that added

The Japanese culture has been greatly influenced by its religions, and one of the most influential religions has been Shintoism. Shintoism has been dated back to 500BC, when the descendants of the sun goddess, Amaterasu-OmiKami, worshiped the gods and goddesses of Japan. Shinto means "way of the gods" and that represents what people who practice Shintoism believe in. Shintoism is a religion based on Japanese mythology, which is centered on a male god, Izanagi, and a female goddess, Izanami. These two gods were believed to have created Japan, which was thought to be the only land in the whole word. The two gods had two children, the sun goddess Amaterasu, and the storm god, Susanowo. These two gods fought over control of the people of

In my opinion however, I sincerely believe that the church (by extension, religion) should be separated from the secular state. This is especially important in heterogeneous societies where citizens

I feel that all of this fighting and violence is completely unnecessary. A religious shrine should have no requirements to go and pray. So in other words, religious places to pray should be free to everyone to avoid these types of unneeded violence. I don’t think that any other countries should be getting involved with their private affairs. I mean, it’s a fight in their country and everyone else should stay out to avoid an unneeded fight over something that doesn’t affect them. I definitely feel that this should just stay a nation affair to keep some type of order in the world. I learned from this article that religion is so important to some people that they feel the need to kill to protect a holy shrine from other people praying there. I

The nation of Japan, even more so than other countries, has a long, long history behind it. It's a country dating back as far as the B.C. Era, and that has experienced various powerful events that has shaped the country since its birth. As with other nations, an important part of their past lies in their religion. Before they were introduced to Buddhism and other outside religions, which had a large impact on their society, the Japanese followed something known as Shinto. As the one religion that can truly be called “Japanese,” it follows that its influences would still remain in the eyes of the people and only aided by a traditionally xenophobic view of the world.

This is completely different from US religious beliefs in many ways. For one, all the religions practiced in the United States worship a specific god or gods. Another thing that’s completely different in Japan than in the US is that they are more accepting of different religions. The other religion that is widely practiced in Japan is Buddhism. Brought over by missionaries in 552 AD and emphasizes simplicity to beauty, devotion to study and severe self-discipline. All the concepts of both of these religions are not concepts that American religions emphasize. Religion is huge for the Japanese and in most houses Shintoism and Buddhism are both practiced and shrines are usually done of both religions. There are many other cultural customs in Japan that are different from those in the US.