[Buddha-l] religious pluralism in Asia

[curt]

Now if the Japanese had just applied the same measures across the board 
to all religions save one, and if they had persisted in this practice 
for 15 consecutive centuries, then we could begin to draw parallels with 
Christianity. There would also have to be equally sadistic measures 
applied within the one allowed religion in order to enforce a monolithic 
conformity and crush all manifestations of "heresy". And the single 
allowed religion would also have to articulate an explicit theory of 
persecution based directly on its own religious teachings. These are not 
rhetorical jabs at Christianity, nor are they in any way exaggerations - 
they are the factual parameters for any genuine comparative approach to 
the phenomenon of religious intolerance. I point out these unpleasant 
facts because I think there is a tendency to view any and every specific 
instance of religious intolerance as somehow rising to the same level as 
the systemic intolerance characteristic of Christianity. That bar is 
pretty danged high - and Ieyasu didn't come close.

One of the secondary themes of Zagorin's book is the "theory of 
persecution" that Christianity developed (the second chapter is entitled 
"The Christian Theory of Persecution"). That theory began to be 
developed even before the reign of Constantine - and was first applied 
by Christians to each other well before they had any power to go after 
Jews and Pagans - for example, Ireneus' "Against All Heresies" dates 
from 180. The primary theme of the rest of the book is the slow process 
by which a critique of the Christian Theory of Persecution developed - 
starting in the 16th century and continuing at least into the 18th 
century. Zagorin points out that the Catholic Church only articulated an 
explicit affirmation of the principle of religious tolerance in 1965!

Any investigation of religious tolerance and intolerance in Asia would 
have to include Christianity which has been part of the religious scene 
in Asia for over 400 years. For instance, the Inquisition infamously set 
up a branch office in Goa in 1560. Not to mention the fact that 
Christianity actually started in Asia in the first place!

- Curt

jkirk wrote:

> However, there was the banning and crucifixion of Christians in Japan 
> under Ieyasu Tokugawa.
> Joanna
> ==============
>
>
>> Perez Zagorin's "How The Idea of Religious Toleration Came To The 
>> West" offers a sobering overview of what any other Religion would 
>> have to stoop to before they could ever hope to play in 
>> Christianity's league intolerance-wise.
>>
>> On the other hand, the little volume "Buddhism in the Early Choson: 
>> Suppression and Transformation" gives some idea of what passes for 
>> Religious persecution outside of Christianity. Buddhism was 
>> suppressed for five centuries in Korea during the Choson dynasty, but 
>> as far as I can tell not one Buddhist every had molten lead poured 
>> into his or her mouth or was burned at the stake or had their skin 
>> removed from their body while they were still alive. Sissies.
>> ==================================================== - Curt
>>
>> John Whalen-Bridge wrote:
>>
>>> Hello all. One often hears discussion of the pluralism and tolerance 
>>> of Asian religions (Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, say) as compared to 
>>> Religions of the Book.  Can anyone recommend a good historical 
>>> overview of this idea, whether affirming, challenging, or something 
>>> in between? And where is Richard Hayes?  He can't be THAT busy.  
>>> Richard, come home!
>>> Allbest,  JWB
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> buddha-l mailing list
>>> buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com
>>> http://mailman.swcp.com/mailman/listinfo/buddha-l
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> buddha-l mailing list
>> buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com
>> http://mailman.swcp.com/mailman/listinfo/buddha-l 
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> buddha-l mailing list
> buddha-l at mailman.swcp.com
> http://mailman.swcp.com/mailman/listinfo/buddha-l
>
>