Shinto is the dominant, native faith of Japan. Shinto is fundamental to the definition of Japan's history, culture, and national identity. Shinto is also falling by the wayside as something that the Japanese actively believe in or follow in anything more than a very perfunctory manner. What's going on?

The Journal Gazette reports:

[T]o say one believes in Shinto has become almost meaningless: For most Japanese, the worshipping side of Shinto is relegated to a small cadre of priests and their helpers, most of whom inherited their jobs from ancestors. The Japanese today “practice” Shinto by making wishes at the local shrine, or enjoying its autumn festivals.

As recently as World War II, a special brand of state-sanctioned Shinto was the ideological foundation upon which Japan’s emperor-worshipping military machine was built. Its treatment of the Japanese people as unique and divine, its emphasis on harmony and its deep-seated fear of impurity continue to be an integral – albeit not always conscious – part of the national psyche. But stripped of its official status and tarnished by the excesses of militarism, Shinto is struggling to find a place in postwar Japan.

Shinto priests would like to revive interest in the religion, but they can do so only with great care because they run the very serious risk of raising the specter of the militaristic Shinto attitudes that helped lead Japan into World War II. If Shinto becomes little more than a tourist attraction, how will that affect Japanese culture? How will it affect how the Japanese people perceive their own history?

Read More:

• Religion 101
• Theism 101