The ways of the past shape the present. Just as the holocaust cannot be understood without first examining nearly two thousand years of Christians seeing Christ a victim of Jews, Japanese religion cannot be understood without first examining the Japanese reaction to religion throughout history, religion’s role in Japanese imperialism, the “Aum Affair,” and the public reaction to this New-New Religion (Gardner, 2005). —– This is part one in a seven-part essay on the Aum Affair in Japan. It was written (by me) in late November as my graduation thesis. I originally did not plan on “publishing” it – but I am on my honeymoon for the next six weeks and will not be able to blog while I am abroad. In the mean time, I broke the capstone graduation thesis into seven parts and scheduled them to publish while I was gone. This topic, Aum Shinrikyo, is relevant to me because: 1. My husband’s father was a prominent police officer during the affair and was in charge of raiding and arresting Aum members 2. I am a Christian who has spent copious amounts of time in Japan – as a student, teacher, and/or “living witness.” I was struck by [...]
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