April–June 2015, Volume 42
Features
Religion’s Contributions to Society
Religion aims to satisfy the human need for spiritual fulfilment. At the same time, religious values and practices are often deeply entwined in the fabric of people’s daily lives, making social involvement an essential part of religious activities.
Religion’s many kinds of contributions to society have a long history. People in faith communities have delivered crucial social services.
Christianity stresses that religious communities should provide social services, that is, offer a helping hand to people in need. Practical charity flows out of these communities. Social contributions such as almsgiving have been deeply rooted in Islam and actively carried out in Muslim communities. Many Buddhist communities, despite a general conception that Buddhism is indifferent to the world, have provided social services in many areas of life.
In Japan, since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, more people have begun to recognize that faith-based organizations can benefit society through relief and social welfare programs.
Religion’s social contributions are motivated by the aspiration to liberate all people from suffering and create a world based on religious principles. It is an activity targeting society in general, often independent of proselytization.
The problems that society faces are multifaceted and complex. Religious organizations must address a wider range of new, challenging problems that involve their members and society, to transform people’s suffering into happiness and confrontation into harmony, on local, regional, and global levels.
We hope to take an overview of the development of religion’s social contributions and see how religious leaders and communities as well as the general public consider the importance of social contributions as part of religious activities. We also hope to focus on examples of religion’s contributions to society.
Features
Active Faith and Contributing to Society
by Hiroyuki Nasu
Faith-Based Organizations’ Contributions to Society, Past and Present
by Kenji Ishii
Whether the activities of faith-based organizations acting as public-interest groups evolve to become more public serving in character, or else sink into the egoism of organizational activity, will serve as an important indicator for gauging the future of Japanese culture.
The Role of the American Muslim Community in a Pluralist Setting
by Sayyid M. Syeed
The first time that Muslim students abroad saw a new reality of a pluralist democracy was in America, where they were treated as equals and their practice of religion was encouraged.
How Altruism Can Solve Religious Conflict
by Rey-Sheng Her
The spirit of Tzu Chi is one example that supports the idea that altruistic voluntarism is stronger than religious belief. . . . Altruistic activities and experiences have resulted in mutual acceptance and understanding between different religions and lessened the conflict between them.
Religious Altruism and Its Contribution to Society
by Keishin Inaba
Only when activities are publicly performed will the practical effects of social contributions by people of faith elicit society’s sympathy. And only when the logic of altruism is communicated to the world in a way that transcends the boundaries of each religion will it create bridging social capital that can link people.
North American Buddhist Support for Same-Sex Marriage: An Example of Compassion in Action
by Jeff Wilson
There is a venerable religious tradition that provided sanction for same-sex marriages long before they were legally recognized. That tradition is Buddhism.
A Faith That Does Not Work for Justice Is Dead
by Vicente Bonet
I am convinced . . . that we, the members of different faiths, can collaborate in our actions for a better, more human world and learn, at the same time, from each other’s beliefs.
Essay
The Lotus Sutra from Below
by Gene Reeves
To see the Lotus Sutra from below is to see it not so much as a protection for the nation and those who most benefit from social stability as it is to see it as at least partially subversive, from a perspective that would advocate dramatic change in society and inevitable overturn of powerful elites, both secular and monastic.
Founder’s Memoirs
The First World Conference of Religions for Peace in Kyoto
by Nikkyo Niwano
The Prism of the Lotus Sutra (8)
by Atsushi Kanazawa
Reflections
Shining Our Light on Others
by Nichiko Niwano
Making the self our light and walking the Way does not mean being independent and conceited. It means that we shine the lamp of the Dharma amid every karmic connection and shine its light on others.
