But Shinto was repurposed to be about worshiping the emperor just a short time before the war—it had a long history and didn’t have any bad ideology really tied up with it. Nazism, by contrast, was a political party that didn’t really stand for anything other than getting into power, and didn’t have any long history or strong cultural roots.
But Shinto was repurposed to be about worshiping the emperor just a short time before the war—it had a long history and didn’t have any bad ideology really tied up with it.
Hm? The central role of the Emperor in Shintoism goes back at least to the Heian era, and Shintoism was a critical tool of state power (witness the appointment of royalty to the most influential position in Shintoism, running the Ise Shrine). Or do you mean something else?
Yeah. Don’t we think though that Christianity has a long history, strong cultural roots and doesn’t have an evil ideology tied up with it? (At least no ideology much worse than a lot of popular political movements).
But Shinto was repurposed to be about worshiping the emperor just a short time before the war—it had a long history and didn’t have any bad ideology really tied up with it. Nazism, by contrast, was a political party that didn’t really stand for anything other than getting into power, and didn’t have any long history or strong cultural roots.
Hm? The central role of the Emperor in Shintoism goes back at least to the Heian era, and Shintoism was a critical tool of state power (witness the appointment of royalty to the most influential position in Shintoism, running the Ise Shrine). Or do you mean something else?
I think he meant “wasn’t”.
Yeah. Don’t we think though that Christianity has a long history, strong cultural roots and doesn’t have an evil ideology tied up with it? (At least no ideology much worse than a lot of popular political movements).
These are strongly different claims.