Eric Takabayashi wrote:

> The only reason I bring up atheism is because Japanese people claim
> to be something else, while perhaps explicitly claiming to believe in
> nothing.

This is the kind of statement that drives me crazy. Who are you to say they
believe in nothing? Many of them believe that they believe in something and
that is enough for them. Just because what they do believe in doesn't
provide some explicitly laid out system of morals (the notion that morals
derive from religion is a common misperception, but so be it), just because
their belief system doesn't require them to be a part of some
well-organized, well-funded religious organization, just because theirs
isn't a proselytizing religion that is hell-bent on converting every last
soul that would otherwise be condemned to eternal damnation? I think many
Japanese are quite sincere when they stand in front of the coin box, yank
the chord, clap twice and pray. What more do you want from them? You don't
have to accept their beliefs as being legitimate, only they do. And nobody
has the right to refer to them as atheists just because they don't happen to
accept what they believe.

Jeff