Japan Baptist backs ruling against official visits to war shrine
-15/10/05
The leader of one of Japan’s largest Protestant churches has welcomed a recent high court ruling declaring that contentious visits by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to a controversial war shrine in Tokyo are unconstitutional.
A group of 188 people, including families of Taiwanese people who died while working for the Japanese military during the war, filed the suit. The decision became binding yesterday when no appeal was made.
The Rev Hitoshi Taira, chair of the Japan Baptist Convention, said the decision by the Osaka High Court in west Japan was “epoch-making and just”, reports Hisashi Yukimoto of ENI.
“Freedom of religion and the separation of religion and the state are bulwarks of all human rights and peace,” he declared. “When they are violated, various other types of human rights will be violated with cajoling words, and then peace will be destroyed.”
Yasukuni means the “peaceful nation shrine” and it lists the names of the 2.4 million soldiers who died fighting for Japan during the Second World War. But it also honours 14 men found to be Class A war criminals by the international military tribunal after the war.
Opponents of the prime minister visiting the shrine note it as a former centre of the war-making ideology, derived from the Shinto religion during the war era. This was a time when the Japanese Emperor was worshipped as a living god.
A war veterans’ group that funds the now privately run shrine is said to also give financial support to Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Mr Koizumi has made a number of visits to the contentious site.
These visits have also enraged China and Korea which were both occupied by Japan and suffered from its aggression in the 1930s and 1940s.
The Baptist leader said: “I highly appreciate it [the court decision] and am grateful for the conscience and courage of the Osaka High Court.”
The court said the visits constitute “acts of official duties of the Prime Minister and religious activities that are banned under the Article 20, Section 3 of the Constitution”. The judges therefore ruled that “they are unconstitutional and go against the separation of religion and the state”.
Several years ago the small Anglican Church in Japan made an official apology for its role in legitimising militarism during the second world war. It pledged to work for justice and reconciliation.
Japanese Mennonites have also been involved in significant peace education and antiwar projects.
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker humanitarian service organization, nominated Nihon Hidankyo, an organization in Japan that represents Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors, for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.
[Incorporates material from ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches.]
Japan Baptist backs ruling against official visits to war shrine
-15/10/05
The leader of one of Japan’s largest Protestant churches has welcomed a recent high court ruling declaring that contentious visits by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to a controversial war shrine in Tokyo are unconstitutional.
A group of 188 people, including families of Taiwanese people who died while working for the Japanese military during the war, filed the suit. The decision became binding yesterday when no appeal was made.
The Rev Hitoshi Taira, chair of the Japan Baptist Convention, said the decision by the Osaka High Court in west Japan was “epoch-making and just”, reports Hisashi Yukimoto of ENI.
“Freedom of religion and the separation of religion and the state are bulwarks of all human rights and peace,” he declared. “When they are violated, various other types of human rights will be violated with cajoling words, and then peace will be destroyed.”
Yasukuni means the “peaceful nation shrine” and it lists the names of the 2.4 million soldiers who died fighting for Japan during the Second World War. But it also honours 14 men found to be Class A war criminals by the international military tribunal after the war.
Opponents of the prime minister visiting the shrine note it as a former centre of the war-making ideology, derived from the Shinto religion during the war era. This was a time when the Japanese Emperor was worshipped as a living god.
A war veterans’ group that funds the now privately run shrine is said to also give financial support to Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party and Mr Koizumi has made a number of visits to the contentious site.
These visits have also enraged China and Korea which were both occupied by Japan and suffered from its aggression in the 1930s and 1940s.
The Baptist leader said: “I highly appreciate it [the court decision] and am grateful for the conscience and courage of the Osaka High Court.”
The court said the visits constitute “acts of official duties of the Prime Minister and religious activities that are banned under the Article 20, Section 3 of the Constitution”. The judges therefore ruled that “they are unconstitutional and go against the separation of religion and the state”.
Several years ago the small Anglican Church in Japan made an official apology for its role in legitimising militarism during the second world war. It pledged to work for justice and reconciliation.
Japanese Mennonites have also been involved in significant peace education and antiwar projects.
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker humanitarian service organization, nominated Nihon Hidankyo, an organization in Japan that represents Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors, for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.
[Incorporates material from ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and the Conference of European Churches.]