RELIGIOUS TOLERATION IN JAPAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 5997, 5 February 1881, Page 7

RELIGIOUS TOLERATION IN JAPAN.

A late number of the Japan Gazette notes that an open-air meeting of native Christians was about to be held in one of the public parks lor plants of Tokio. The comments which that paper makes are in this spirit:—" When we remember the persecutions to which native Christians were subjected at the time of the restoration, and that an enlightened and liberal-minded statesman like the late. Kido found it necessary to declare that the welfare of the country required that Christianity should be put down, the fact that native converts have obtained Government sanction to hold religious gatherings in a public place in the heart of the Japanese metropolis, is a wonderful piece of evidence of the advances made by the rulers of the Empire towards religious toleration and freedom of conscience and opinion. This wise and tolerant action of the authorities must command the respect of right-minded people, and cannot fail to create a favourable impression throughout the world. The movement is entirely that of native Christians ; the proceedings will bo conducted in Japanese, but many representatives of the varions missions in Japan have been invited to attend." Perhaps no one fact illustrates the progress which Japan is making towards the standard of a great and enlightened nation more than this concession of religious toleration. The nation is not Christian, but it has progressed far enoiuh to see that genuine Christianity will not he hurtful, but rather helpful, and that what is best and noblest in material development is associated with this form of religion the world over. Japan has once extinguished a form of Christianity, under the belief that it was dangerous to the State. Now the teachers of Christianity are free to prosecute their work without danger from the authorities. Japan welcomes the spirit of Western progress, especially in matters of education. It may be a time before these people will be ready to adopt Christianity as a universal faith. But the fact that it is tolerated, and that native ChristiicviS'r.ovr have such a decree of freedom, is satisfactory eviVieilce of'healthy progress. The Japanese who are being educated in the United States and in Europe, whether they accept Christianity or not, will be more or less imbued with its spirit. They will advocate and defend toleration ; and that is all that the teachers of Christianity can reasonably ask in Japan. If thu people of that country could become, convinced that there is anything better in Christianity than there is in Sintooism or Budhism, they will be as likely at some time to drop the latter and accept the former as they were to accept better methods of education and improved industrial machinery.