The Task of Religious Movements in an Era of Loosening Bonds : How Open is "Religion" to People's "Sufferings"?(The Bonds Created by Religion: The Meaning and Potential of Fellowship through Faith,Public Symposium,THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEVENTIETH ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE JAPANESE ASSOCIATION FOR RELIGIOUS STUDIES)

Abstract

The weakening of bonds between people in modern Japanese society has made it difficult to recognize various problems in local societies and to support people suffering from these problems. In this era which is filled with such "difficulties" and in which human bonds to sustain lives have weakened, religious workers should make connections with the "suffereings" of contemporary people and alter religious facilities into strongholds for changing local society. In the organized institutions of religion, original experiences are embedded as the devices of "collective memory" that could help to transcend the modern framework of community. Various attempts of religious workers engaging in social support are not just arbitrary "contributions to society" from the side of "religion," but also can be a moment of awakening for religious workers themselves. This experience can urge them to re-inquire concerning the bond of "religion" itself, from the standpoint of "sufferings," and reinvigorate the memory of original cooperation.