Fudeorca here. It’s been some time.
Volume 7 has finally been released. This volume follows Yuri as he gears up for war. Meanwhile, Carol fights a battle of her own as she recovers, Dolla is filled with regrets, while Soim is in his element.
Yuri’s enemies are religious figures. But what is religion?
When I was a child, I was surrounded by negative impressions of religion and had that view myself. Looking at history, it seemed as though faith had been the cause of many wars, and—when I looked at the reality around me—I witnessed a religion that gathered money from the faithful, destroyed their lives, and finally conducted a gas attack on the subway system.
But I’ve learned more since then, and I’ve come to see things from multiple viewpoints.
Long ago, I would always listen to radio broadcasts from The Open University of Japan while I drove. Sadly, their radio courses ended in 2018, so I’ve been forced to abandon the habit, but I would always listen as long as the topic wasn’t something I found dull. (Oftentimes I’d have to change the station if it was something like the third installment of a course on Portuguese that I couldn’t understand at all.)
One such course was “Introductory Thanatology.” It was by pure chance that I was listening to it.
Here’s what I remember hearing: “Many people think that the majority of Japanese people are atheists. But is that really true? In my experience, only a minority of people remain complete atheists as they enter their final days. If someone can face death without thinking that there might be an afterlife, a heaven or a hell, or that they might be reincarnated to live as another life-form, then they’re truly an atheist. But such people are few and far between.”
It left me bewildered. What kind of course is this? I wondered as I continued listening with great interest. (Note that this is something I remember hearing just once on the radio many years ago, so I’ve probably distorted the original meaning somewhat.)
As I listened, I concluded, That sounds about right.
It made me realize that “religion” can’t just be a collection of deeply superstitious people. Broadly speaking, it’s the accumulation of our culture and traditions. It’s something we’re born into and grow up with. It’s bound to permeate into people’s thinking. If we accept this broader meaning, then perhaps it’s not accurate to say that most Japanese people are atheists.
During my trip to Italy that I mentioned in volume 1, I heard something very interesting from my guide. Many Italians agree to leave everything they own to the church after their death, providing a major source of revenue for the church. I wanted to know why. According to the guide, the church—in exchange for the person’s possessions—regularly sends out volunteers who take care of the person and make sure they’re not alone in their final days. That left an impression on me. It made me feel there was a beautiful side to religion.
But, of course, religion isn’t entirely positive—there is some bad that comes with it. Faith comes with dogma, and cultural friction arises between those with differing beliefs.
For the adherents of one religion, the beliefs of adherents of other religions are nothing but misguided superstitions. A friend of mine married a foreign woman who was a passionate Catholic, and she abhorred the Buddhist altar they had in their home. “It’s an altar for demon worship,” she’d said before trying to get rid of it.
It’s hard to get along with neighbors who think we’re idiots following deluded beliefs. It might be hard for someone on an island nation like Japan to imagine such a thing, but nations that see each other in that exact way often share a border. Of course, that causes a few disagreements.
I could go on talking about religion for a long time, but I think I’m reaching the word limit, so I’ll wrap it up here.
Thank you for reading to the very end, my dear readers. You have my sincere gratitude.
Fudeorca