freeinfidel

In Japan, interest in Buddhism is waning so fast that not even bar-crawling monks can spark a revival. As with many other religions, people like the ceremony, but aren’t so fussed about the supernatural nonsense that goes with it.

According to a report in the Guardian, some 75% of Japanese count themselves Buddhists. But the temples stand largely empty and monasteries are running out of cash. It seems that most people in Japan remember they’re Buddhists only for those moments in life where tradition and ceremony are important, such as funerals.

This seems not unlike the situation with Christianity in the UK. While large numbers of Brits might still label themselves as ‘Christian’ if asked (for a survey, perhaps), the truth is that they see the inside of a church only for weddings, funerals and perhaps christenings. They are there, not to worship god, but to enjoy the tradition: the picturesque gothic church goes nicely with the big white dress and, on more sombre occasions, singing favourite hymns learned at school may bring a sense of comfort and continuity. Of course, most people singing those hymns haven’t the faintest idea of their meaning even if they can remember most of the words.

Something like 2,000 Anglican churches - about an eighth of the total - have fallen into disuse over the past three decades or so. The figure may be higher, as the last statistic I could find is woefully out of date. Many have been converted into Buddhist, Hindu and other non-Christian temples. Some are now private dwellings, artists’ studios, architectural reclamation yards or shops. Of those that remain consecrated and in use, many have to share a vicar with several other churches in the area, so that each house of worship is open for parishioners perhaps one Sunday a month. A survey in Essex found that around two-thirds of its 166 working churches saw an average of fewer than 20 people at each service. Only 14 attracted more than 50 people. One report I saw found that around 3% of the UK population attended church on Sundays: but that report was 20 years old and the proportion must have declined since then.

So why do some people (not many, but some) still regard Britain as a Christian nation? It’s habit, really. I’d wager that the majority of people who are counted as ‘Christian’ in surveys don’t think about god from one year to the next. Most, if pushed on the subject, would probably confess that their belief amounts to little more than “there’s probably something up there, somewhere”. Certainly, god, Jesus and the Bible play no role in shaping their decisions or how they live their lives.

In fact, a great many senior clerics in the Anglican church have acknowledged that Britain is no longer a Christian country. There is even a serious push by the church to be disestablished, though this is more for reasons of allowing the church to govern itself rather than being dictated to by Parliament. Bishops understand that Britain is multicultural and increasingly agnostic. Faith is where it should be, in people’s private lives, not dictating government policy or social programmes.

It’s hardly surprising that belief is dying in Japan just as it’s dying in the UK. Statistics show a clear, inverse correlation between the well-being of a nation and its religiosity. As standards of living, health and social security increase, people are less afraid of the future, their lives are less grim, and they have fewer needs for the comforts of religion - as false as many of them are. Other forms of personal interaction replace the community of the congregation (though not always as successfully), and people have the state to provide for them when they are poor, sick, jobless or elderly.

It’s no accident that the US - the first-world country with the poorest support for its own citizens, with no decent social security, no universal healthcare and an astonishing level of poverty for such a wealthy nation - remains so bizarrely religious. It is alone among the western nations in having the vast majority of its citizens beholden to mystical concepts formed in ancient times and foreign lands. This situation has been bolstered by the policy of the Bush administration to fund social programmes through faith-based organisations, so that even when the state is providing for them - albeit by proxy - poor, sick and otherwise needy people must still turn to churches and organisations with a religious message to sell.

In some ways the Japanese may have the right idea. While Zen Buddhism does come complete with a terrible baggage of supernatural idiocy, there are other - some would say purer - forms of Buddhism, of Dharma practice, which dispense with the fanciful ideas about reincarnation and hungry ghosts. It would be a simple matter to arrive at a form of Buddhism that allows you to retain the enjoyable aspects of ceremony and tradition without the embarrassingly archaic spiritual rubbish.

That would avoid those awkward moments you get in an English church when one is doing one’s duty attending a wedding or funeral - those moments of shuffling nervously, mumbling incoherently and trying not to catch the vicar’s eyes when you’ve been asked to pray (when all you want to do is get to the reception and get stuck into the cake).

Traditions are fine and ceremony is an important component of our communal lives. So it’s important that we find ways to maintain them while allowing the anachronism of faith to die a natural death.

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