Japanese Government Drawn to Christianity for Country

1899

WANTS A NEW RELIGION

Government of Japan at Present Much Drawn to Everything English

It has been stated on pretty good authority that the leading statesmen of Japan are thinking of making Christianity the established religion of the country, says the Evangelist. When the government of Japan was changed and the mikado assumed his kingly authority one of the first steps taken was the endowment and establishment of the Shinto religion. And Shintoism is so broad and comprehensive a belief that it has frequently allowed Christian services to be held in its temples.

To the American Episcopal church belongs the honor of being the first Protestant body to commence Christian work in Japan, for Bishop Williams established himself at Tokyo as early as 1859 and translated portions of the prayer book and Bible into the Japanese tongue. Should Japan adopt Christianity as a national faith it is not likely that it will take a church exactly to the pattern of either British or American Christianity, but the Episcopal missionaries in Japan believe that the molding of the Japanese mind with regard to Protestant Christianity rests very largely with the Anglican community, especially as the Japanese government is at present much drawn to everything English.

—Dubuque Daily Herald, Dubuque, Iowa, June 21, 1899, page 7.