Great Construction

Religion and Freedom

     When all the religions that have so far appeared in this world are examined, that there is almost no freedom in religion is a given. Most are bound by strict commandments where there is no room for movement and this situation has come to be thought as the normal condition of religion. When explored in depth, the perception is one of a faith hell.
     It is these very religions of hellish faith that are replete with commandments about what must not be done, what will cause God to anger, or what will cause punishment. The vision of a free, comfortable life is not possible. In such cases, the idea towards God is not of reverence and respect, or familiarity, it is only one of trembling in fear. Fear is not all of the hell. Life is always accompanied by and cannot rid itself of sickness, poverty, and conflict. About such sufferings, ministers of these religions will surely say something along the lines of the following. “Since the time of your ancestors, your family has had a lot of sin. Because you are suffering for that sin, you must work very hard for your whole life to expatiate those sins. Suffering follows you even now because you do not have enough faith.” Sometimes, among those who have been told so are those whose suffering does not lessen or go away, so they try to escape from their faith hell. What they are threatened with is: “If you quit this faith, your whole family will die” and thus are unable to free themselves. I often see those who are not able to bear their present situation and who are at a complete loss as to what to do.
     The aim of faith is to become an individual who lives a heaven-like, joyful life, but when we ask why it is that life becomes the hell as described above, that is, the opposite of a joyful life, it is due to the fact that low-level religions have continued for a long time, so the essential aspect of wisdom has blunted; rationality, lost; and the distinctions between good and bad, right and wrong have become impossible to make. When the person trapped in this situation is compared to a thoroughly materialistically-oriented individual, the fact that one cannot feel at ease with either one of these types could be said to be equivalent to waiting for the waters of the Yellow River to flow clearly.
     To sum up, I keenly feel that not only must we seek to save materialistically-oriented individuals, we must save as well those who are followers of hellish faiths.

Hikari, Issue 45, January 14, 1950
    translated by cynndd