Comments by "XSportSeeker" (@XSpImmaLion) on "Japan: Where Gods Aren't Gods and Worshipers Aren't Religious (Shinto Explained)" video.

  1. Awesome video Greg, this eases up trying to explain religion in Japan. The best way I came up to talk about shinto and buddhism with other people is explaining that you better see them in Japan more as tradition or culture than religion itself. All countries have some sort of tradition or cultural part that came from religion. Some of them became divorced of faith or belief overtime, for lots of people in those countries. They have value in several ways - cultural identity, society values, life philosophy, spiritual meaningfullness, personal guidance, expressing emotions, finding common ground in communities plus all sorts of other things. All of those are usually valuable in faith and belief based religions too, but I personally think, this is personal opinion, that they are better divorced. Blind faith and belief are usually the worst parts a religion has to offer, specially when taken to extremes. This is how I make sense of religion in general, as an atheist. It's not inherently bad to be part of it, people should be free to follow whatever they want, but blindly believing or putting faith in something that is bad in itself cannot be excused just because one is following a religion. I don't accept religion as scapegoat for bad behaviour or bad ideas. I don't really participate in any local tradition with links to religion I guess... there aren't many counterparts to the shinto temple, matsuris and whatnot in the world, as uniformly practiced through an entire country like Japan. I do follow my mom in some stuff around the Anglican church sometimes, which she is an integral part of. Even though I'm not much of a fan of the mass and faith based stuff, my mom grew up in a small town where the Anglican church was big, she is devout in it, most of her big family also is, and I don't find this bad because the Anglican church in particular here in Brazil is probably the most progressive Christian church in the country. It accepts people from all faith, it often has round table discussions from representatives of all faiths, positions inside the church are open to all sexes, you can be married, divorced, widower or whatever, it does not have a rigid structure, it promotes several things in the LGBT community, it's pro-action (mostly in helping the poor) instead of being just ritualistic or money hungry, and it doesn't impose itself or have any authoritarian stint... which is unfortunately why it's also kinda tiny in comparison to other churches. It's more a voluntary community rather than an obligation, a gathering place for likeminded people rather than the place you are forced to go to seek salvation. Through it is where I came to understand how so many religions just became tools of oppression, mindwashing, cultism and fanatism. It is an unfortunate fact when it comes to faith and religion that sometimes the more oppressive, the more close minded, the more radical, the more rigid the structure of a religion is, the more it tends to attract people, the more people are willing to put their money into it, the more people are convinced about it. Fear and hatred are very effective tools to convince people to believe in something. Lots of people also consciously or unconsciously seek all answers in their lives to come from a single source, so churches often have to offer that because it is easier to follow and make sense of. On the opposite end of it, the way my mom's church lost most followers was by promoting hands on work, being accepting of other religions, doing work with LGBT families and communities, electing women inside church positions, inviting poor families and people into church activities, and stuff like that. It's probably the smallest church in my hometown, it's always in financial dire straits, it's always bleeding out followers, being fractured, and whatnot. Nevertheless, I am very grateful that this is the religion that my mom chose to put her faith on, out of all other options available in Brazil. She pays a steep price to keep at it, along with another group she joined - Rotary International. But it is fullfilling to her, and I admire her a lot for that, because these days it takes most of her time and money to be part of both. It's a lot of dedication, a lot of hands on service, a lot of patience for close to nothing in return. Something that I can't really say much about myself I guess. But I do hope to follow her example one day.
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