Quote:
Originally Posted by RealJames
would you say that most Americans treat xmas as a serious religious ritual or as a cultural tradition?
We agree on the whole suicide bit, and I think we agree about this too if anything just the words I'm using aren't explicit enough 
My original thing was that religion is hardly taken seriously in Japan.
It definitely is a major part of modern Japanese culture, but people don't even think of it most of the time, even while doing those cultural "religious" things. Right? |
Yeah I think that religious ideas from the past really do shape things. In terms of Science born out of the backdrop of a Christian worldview in the west. Its obvious that religion has made a serious impact on the culutre of Japan.
It reminds me of yoga here in the U.S.A, before it used to be of religious signifigance but now it is just another afternoon workout class to most Americans.
However although people have lost the religious signifigance of certain acts, the religious ideas are still at play, and have a real impact on our thinking and thought processes whether we know it or not.
Shintoism and Buddism, have alot (though not the whole reason) to do with the thought processes that eventually lead to a great nation to have the 5th largestest suicide rate.
Maybe a change in thought is needed?