Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 1963)
THURSDAY, Christian Missionaries Bailed By ROBERT CRABBE United Press International TOKYO (UPI) - "Wareware no ten ni aru chichiyo The opening words of The Lord's Prayer tumble from the Hps of a dozen Japanese seated on the straw mat floor of a Tokyo home. As Sunday service ends, they bow politely to the American Baptist missionary, who is their pastor, and shuffle out the door. Sometimes I think we missed our chance," the missionary says sadly. "We should have, had a big effort ready the day they surrendered in 1945. That was when they were ready for new ideas." A short distance away, a Jap anese Roman Catholic priest is saying mass in a handsome percentage is low but the mflu church that would be a credit ' ence of Japanese Christians can- OLDEST STUDENT Adrian C. Kelt, a fresh- commutes from his home in Holland, Mich., man at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, three times a week for his classes in philos- Mlch., is a little old to wear a beanie. The ophy. (UPI) school's oldest student, who just turned 86, r si STEREO Beautiful new FMAM RADIO-PHONOGRAPHS 1 1 that double as functional Coffee Tables ONLY Model 1-ST275 In Mahogany finish. In Walnut, $215. Also available In Colonial styling, Maple PROJECTS SOUND FROM BOTH FRONT AND BACK-TO SURROUND YOU WITH THE FULL BEAUTY OF MUSIC I You enjoy true high fidelity and all the spectacular dimensions of stereophonies, from powerful amplifier and four speakers with coaxial tweeters. Micromatic Player lets your records last a lifetime-Diamond Stylus is guaranteed 10 Years. Gliding top panels open to record player, and controls without disturbing your top-of-set accessories. Other Magnavox Stereo COFFEE TABLES from only 16950 OPEN EVERY FRIDAY Your Horn Entertainment Center 111 North Central Phone 773-7538 NOVEMBER 14, 13 to any community in America, It was built largely with foreign donations. Only a scattering of people hear Uie service, and some of these are nuns f r o m America and Europe. The Christian missionaries have found JaDan a hard nut to crack, Despite a century of in' tense and expensive mis sionary activity, less than one per cent of the Japanese people are churchgoing Christians. The controversial words "less than one per cent" echo throughout the community of more than 5,- 000 foreign missionaries station ed nere. Discount Numbers Jesus was never interested in religious statistics," says the Rev. Howard Norman. "The the magnificent HIGH FIDELITY finish only $219.50 NIGHT Ml m Direct not be measured by Die number 1 0f Christians in the country. It i te far grea(CT the num. i . . . ,. , m ,0 ,ndlea, e' There are 95 milhon people in Japan, the Japanese Chris- "an yearbook estimates t n a t in 1961, 727,445 were Chnstain church members, although gains have been claimed since. The year - book says that in 1961 there were a little more than 400,000 Japanese Protes tants, and about 290,000 Cath olics. The rest were divided among other denominations. Japanese Christians are serv ed by a corps of about 12,000 Japanese church workers and an estimated 5,000 foreign mis sionaries. Overwhelmingly, the f o r eign missionaries are dedicated and I MUSIC HOUSE Factory Dealer self - effacing. They master the complicated Japanese language, and live close to the Japanese people. It is not a job for per sons with large egos. The mis sionary in Japan often must be content with laying the founda tions of a structure which he can only hope that others will complete. Look Elsewhere There is strong evidence that at the moment the Japanese people are looking elsewhere than Christianity for their spir itual values m the post war worm. The fastest growing religious organization in Japan today is the controversial Soka Cakkai sect, an aggressive new Japa nese Buddhism. Japanese intellectuals and leftists are shopping in the markets of European philoso phy. Many Japanese who never open a Bible can talk about Sarte and Karl Marx. Christian workers in JaDan entered the post - war era in a hopeful mood. Japan had come out of the conflict with some ' wo ftard core Christians who had stuck to their faith in s 25000 in MERCHANDISE AWARDS! (Certificates good any Central Point TRY Foreign Coin Sale Authentic coins' from many of the world's free countries go on sale opening day at just a few pennies each for interesting additio'ns to your collec tion, as curiosities or souvenirs. Refreshments . . Coffe, Punch and Cookies for all, JOIN THE FUN! MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFOItD. OREGON spite of severe government dis- approval. The new postwar re ligious treeaom had removed the old restrictions under which the church worked. However, recent growth has been slow and costly. The post war mood of Janan has been materialistic, n o t spiritual. Moreover, Christian workers have come to grips with Oriental attitudes striking ly different from those in the West. "I'll tell you what the Japa nese do when they get convert ed to Christianity," said t h e Rev. Carl Blackler. who con- ducted a Baptist mission in To- Kyo until bis recent death "They buy a picture of Jesus and put it on the family altar, beside the statue of Buddha and the image of the Shinto Fox God." Baffle Missionaries The refusal of Japanese to ac- cept the exclusive claims of any one religion has baffled and ir ritated many a missionary. ine Japanese nas an ability to pick out the things he likes in a number of religions," says Dr. William Woodard, direc-l You're inviied to the fflAMl OPENING FiRSt MTIOML'S HEW 'OTNTBA BRANCH. BUILDING Friday, November 5h, 10 a.m. fo 6 p.m. in trade with Merchant) YOUR SKILL AT ESTIMATING Contest entry cards are available at the New Central Point Branch all day Friday, November 15th. Make your guess and leave your card. You could be a winner! Closest estimate to actual amount of money in special container wins first prize. by Japanese Attitude tor of the International Institute for Study of Religions in To kyo. "Christianity is more dogmat ic an all or nothing religion," Woodard adds. "It demands a high degree of personal com mitment, and many Japanese find this disagreeable." Woodard, whose scholarlv in stitute is assisted by Christians, Buddhists and Shintoists in Ja pan, is not optimistic about rapid growth of Christianity nere. Woodard points out that some Japanese have picked up Chris tian ideals of social service and then decided that left wing political parties offer the b e s t prospect of putting them into use. Jotaro Kawakami, chairman of the powerful Socialist party, is a Christian, but he leads a party more attuned to Moscow t h a n to the non - Communist West. The Christian preoccupation with sin also is foreign to the Japanese mind. Former Governor David Law rence of Pennsylvania found this out last year when he tour I, M'K -i- - -;'-i t .ir a -. t ji '1-.: y J? ed Japan with a party of Amer ican governors. At a religious seminar in Kyoto, Lawrence asked a Buddhist monk wheth er Buddhism prohibited rape and robbery. Separated from Sin The abbot looked bewildered: "We don't concern ourselves with those thines. mv dear sir. The criminal code takes care of all that." To the Christian mind. Bud dhism's separation of religion from sin seems fantastic. Basic ally it springs from the Bud dhist's confidence that every thing will be paid for in1 full. They feel the wicked are pun ished and the good rewarded in some other life if not in this one. Buddhism has been in Japan for 1,500 years. Culturally, its effects on the country have been more powerful than those of any other religion. About one-third of the Japanese people still are thought to be practicing Bud dhists, and it is estimated that as many as 90 per cent still maintain at least nominal tics. Dwelling side by side with Buddhism in Japan is Shinto, a POINT S100 MERCHANDISE CERTIFICATE - FIRST PRIZE S50 MERCHANDISE CERTIFICATE -SECOND PRIZE TEN CERTIFICATES VALUED AT S10 EACH CENTRAL POINT BRANCH The Statewide Bank with Hometown Service 300 EAST PINE STREET CENTRAL POINT form of sun and spirit worship that goes back to Japanese pre history. Millions of Japanese fol low both religions with no sense of conflict. Christianity in Japan is large ly a city people's religion. For the most part it attrects people in the middle and upper-middle classes. Rural Japan is Utile touched by Christianity, and the major ity of the missionary effort goes on in the cities. Early Day Culture i In the earlv davs of Christian! work in the Far East, the churches were the bringers of western culture. They built (he first universities, and also brought the Orient the blessings of western medicine. Christian universities are in fluential still. But, in fields like science and engineering, the Japanese government can now build universities and equip them far more elaborately than the Christian colleges can do on limited budgets. More and more. Christian workers in Japan are being forced to campaign on purely religious grounds. In some ways, there are en couraging signs. Japanese churchmen are taking over the leadership of Christian activities to an Increasing degree. Tha majority of Japanese parishes now are led by Japanese and about half are self supporting although the living standards of the clergy often are pathetically low. Yet there is little doubt that the Japanese have been much more attracted by the west's science and technology than ve Dce" ' ' attitudes. 1959 FORD 2 DOOR SEDAN 6 Cyl. Sdn.( Stick ..$799 Call Mr. McHenry at 482-1911 WALT'S LITHIA MOTORS On the Plaza ASHLAND, OREGON ' "''
