Is religion bad? Spirituality

 Is religion bad? Spirituality

From a spiritual perspective, let us consider the case of former Prime Minister Abe’s death, which had connections to the former Unification Church. There are reports of a criminal act motivated by resentment toward this religious organization.

This particular religious group required large financial offerings. In this case, the perpetrator’s mother had donated a substantial amount of money and went bankrupt, which became the source of resentment leading to the crime.

On Yahoo! News, comments on this incident included opinions that it would be better if religions did not exist. There were also many comments questioning why religious organizations are exempt from taxes.

According to Ameba News, religious organizations are, in principle, not profit-driven; they provide social contributions such as spiritual support and can be seen as equivalent to public interest corporations. This is the reasoning used to justify the existence of religious corporations.

While this explanation may seem logically acceptable on the surface, there are many religious organizations, like the former Unification Church, that require followers to give large amounts of money.

Among Japanese people, there are those whose lives are largely unrelated to religion. However, even practices such as dining etiquette were brought back from China by Buddhist monks, showing that religion has indirectly influenced aspects of daily life. Therefore, it is not entirely accurate to say that religion has no connection at all.

In the past, for example, farmers who shared the values of the Jōdo sect of Buddhism demonstrated group cohesion through their shared faith. This shows that religion did not always have a negative influence. First, let us consider the feelings of those who might think religion is bad.

Psychologist Sigmund Freud proposed the pleasure principle, stating that humans naturally seek pleasure in activities such as eating, sleeping, or relieving themselves. In extreme terms, one could say that existence = pleasure, and when people feel happiness, they experience a strong sense of existence along with strong pleasure.

Not being able to feel one’s own existence is not simply a lack of self-awareness; the body and mind mutually influence each other, and stress can easily arise as a response to a perceived threat to life.

The stress response places a person in a state of either attack or avoidance toward the source of stress. Either way, it requires energy, and this process can also generate energy in both mind and body.

With the spread of the internet today, there are more opportunities to experience pleasure and reinforce a sense of one’s own existence.

For those who have never experienced the sense of existence or emotional support that religion can provide, religion may appear worthless, and negative feelings toward organizations that harm society may arise.

Spiritual growth, as discussed repeatedly on this blog, is the accumulation of individual insights, just like the growth of knowledge. Spiritual maturity (霊格, reikaku) is the growth of the heart through each personal insight.

When spiritual maturity increases, one’s mental presence strengthens, the ability to fulfill the hearts of others grows, and one’s perspective broadens as the number of insights increases. This is not a difficult concept—it represents becoming spiritually adult.

Conversely, low spiritual maturity means weak mental presence, a tendency to prioritize one’s own emotional satisfaction over fulfilling others’ hearts, and a narrower perspective due to fewer insights. This is not a complex idea—it represents being spiritually childlike.

Low spiritual maturity also limits understanding of religion, as one’s mental perspective is narrow.

Japanese education often emphasizes knowledge and correct answers on paper tests, creating a societal impression that high scores equate to personal value. As a result, spiritual growth through personal insight is weakened, and although not universally, people with low spiritual maturity are more likely to appear.

When considering whether religion is bad, a spiritually mature person would likely conclude that it is not religion itself that is bad, but rather the actions of humans. Indeed, many people have been saved or helped by religion. Focusing only on the negative aspects often reflects low spiritual maturity.