Autumn 2023, Volume 50
Features
Religion and the Family
Throughout the world, and particularly in pluralistic, secularized societies such as the United States, parents across religious traditions are wondering how, or, indeed if, they should pass their faith along to their children (Vern L. Bengston et al., Families and Faith: How Religion Is Passed Down across Generations, Oxford University Press, 2013). In Japan, too, many religious denominations are facing an aging membership, while young people are drifting away from religion in greater and greater numbers. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the Japanese population affiliated with religious institutions decreased by 20 million people in the decade between 2012–21, a nearly 10 percent drop.
Internationally, the right of parents to educate their children in the family’s religious traditions would seem to be recognized by article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children”), adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. However, article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights also affirms universal freedom of religion for all human beings, and article 14 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989, specifically acknowledges the religious freedom of children to practice the religion of their choice.
In Japan, there is increasing concern for children raised by parents with strong religious beliefs who have forced them to practice the same faith. We recognize that religion is a matter of individual choice: No one should force others—not even their own family members—to practice or believe in the tenets of a particular religion. The transmission of faith in the family, therefore, is a complicated matter that begs certain questions:
Is it important for religion to be a mainstay for families in the modern world?
- If so, how should parents’ faith be passed down to their children and grandchildren?
- Is it ultimately a good thing for parents to automatically do so? Can the rights of parents to pass on their religious tradition and children’s freedom of religious choice be reconciled?
- What role do places of worship and the home play in this transmission?
- Can religious sentiment grow without active membership in a religious group?
The Autumn issue will explore these questions and more.
The Place of Religion and the Individual in the Home in Rissho Kosei-kai
by Masashi Hashimoto
“Does religion inevitably divide families?”
On Family, Freedom and Enlightenment (Queerly)
by Larry Yang
As the Buddha did, we have a choice to stay exactly who we are, where we are, as we are.
A Battle for the Hearts and Minds of American Youth
by Liz Wilson
Being non-religious or even anti-religious, if done with others in a consistent, institutional way, can be classified as a kind of devotion, and therefore, arguably, as a kind of religion.
If Wishes Were Horses: Religious Conflict within Families
by Kath Weston
If an adult child wants to explore other religions (or none at all), what’s an elder to do?
The Importance and Impact of Religion on Children
by Huma Ikramullah
“If you feel pain, you are alive, but if you feel other people’s pain, you are a human being in the truest sense.”
Treatment of the Sick and Deceased and a New Concept of Family in Renunciant Communities
by Katsuhisa Nakashima
“For one who takes care of the sick differs not from one who takes care of me.” —Buddha Shakyamuni
Niwano Peace Prize
A Fourfold Approach to Peacebuilding
by Rajagopal P. V.
The Niwano Peace Foundation awarded the fortieth Niwano Peace Prize to Mr. Rajagopal P. V. of India, in recognition of his lifelong work in the services of justice and peace through nonviolent methods, and his commitment to care for the environment. The award ceremony took place on May 11, 2023, at the International House of Japan, Tokyo. The recipient’s address follows.
Essay
Engaged Buddhism in Japan: Historical Perspectives & Contemporary Exemplars
by Jonathan S. Watts
Engaged Buddhism in Japan, volumes one and two, by Jonathan S. Watts, were published earlier this year. These works are the culmination of sixteen years of research and engagement in the growing Socially Engaged Buddhist movement in Japan, by the International Buddhist Exchange Center (IBEC) of the Kodo Kyodan Buddhist Fellowship in Yokohama. The following is a summary of these volumes by the author.
The Bodhisattva, Christ, and the Meaning of Discipleship
by Peter Feldmeier
“Selfishness diminishes the self, while selflessness divinizes the self.”
Reflections
To Live with Peace of Mind
by Nichiko Niwano
Rissho Kosei-kai Buddhism
Seeing Everyone as Purna
by Dominick Scarangello
In terms of their phenomenal experience of daily life, they can appreciate those who display the three poisons as Purna, that is, as bodhisattvas who lead them to awakening, and in doing so, have gratitude for even those unpleasant experiences, avoiding the trap of making dualistic, egocentric distinctions between what is good and what is bad.
