This paper treats the conversions of a former executive member of Aum Shinrikyo. He was a spiritual seeker and visited various religious groups and psychics when he was young. Then he met Asahara Shoko, and thought that he had found an authentic guru, and became the first member of Aum Shinrikyo to renounce the world. He actively committed himself to various activities of the religious organization for the supposed-to-be salvation of mankind, motivated by his firm belief and mystical experiences. He was also inevitably involved in its criminal activities at the same time. On the one hand, when he had strong faith the murderous act by a religious group could be religiously justified and rationalized as salvation through "poa"; on the other hand, when it resulted in apostasy, he had to suffer from unbearable regret from having been involved in homicide, plain and simple, and other crimes.

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No one can deny that the twentieth century was an era marked by warfare and violence. The great majority of victims have been people not directly involved in fighting wars, such as women and children. The recent surfacing of these realities, which until now had gone unvoiced in male-dominated societies, can be attributed to the appearance of women who have suffered from acts of violence during wars. They also testify that they have suffered from guilt-consciousness and shame-consciousness. In the case of sexual violence, the victims have been forced to remain silent and invisible, while the perpetrators and their crimes have gone unchallenged. The patriarchal systems have violently put together the episteme that the sin of perpetrators are metathesized to the victims, and they have been constructed as the subaltern. None of the androcentric religions can be absolved of this kind of historical responsibility to trivalize, marginalize, and excuse crimes against women, particularly acts of sexual violence. To relativize "history, " not a few feminist theologians and religious activists are recently engaged in listening to the testimonies of women victims and survivors, and reconstructing an alternative story…that is "Her-story." When trauma is voiced, much attention must be paid not only to the contents of testimonial narratives, but also to the processes of their formation within personal and local experiences. Through the solidarity of women who can share pain and anger, we can open a new perspective toward reconciliation and forgiveness.

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Die Globalisierung der letzten Jahrzehnte hat nicht nur eine zunehmende Verflechtung von Volkern und Kontinenten mit sich gebracht, sondern auch die Entstehung und Verscharfung von Interessenskonflikten in allen Teilen der Welt. Diese manifestieren sich nicht selten als religiose Konflikte, da es neben den kulturellen Errungenschaften und der politisch-ideologischen Orientierung vor allem die Religion ist, die das Selbstver-standnis einer Gesellschaft pragt. Als Ursachen religioser Konflikte lassen sich hauptsachlich zwei Faktoren benennen : 1) die Dichotomie zwischen dem Sakralen und dem Profanen, die der Religion wesentlich eignet; 2) die Abneigung gegenuber fremdartigen rituellen und zeremoniellen Gebrauchen. Zur Konstituierung der Idee einer allgemeinen religiosen Toleranz ist es notwendig, ein Konzept der Anerkennung der Diversitat religioser Formen und Gebrauche zu entwickeln. Dies ist moglich auf der Grundlage der Einsicht, dass alle Religionen ungeachtet ihrer unterschiedlichen Auspragungen im Grunde aus dem einen, allen Menschen gemeinsamen Gefuhl der Religiositat entstammen. So lassen sich die unterschiedlichen Religionsformen in wesentlicher Analogie zum Mannigfaltigkeitsprinzip der Natur als ausdifferenzierte Erscheinungsformen des Religiosen an sich verstehen. Gleichwohl konnen die einzelnen Religionsformen nicht auf einen all-gemeinen religiosen Grundgedanken reduziert werden, um so die Unter-schiede einzuebnen und religiose Konflikte aufzuheben. Denn fur den einzelnen Menschen ist seine individuelle religiose Vorstellung unentbehrlich und nicht ersetzbar. Um fruchtbar zu werden, muss der abstrakte Gedanke der religiosen Toleranz in die jeweilige Vorstellungswelt der einzelnen Religion eindringen wie es im Sinnbild des Weges, der Ring-parabel oder der buddhistischen Metapher : "ein Mund spiegelt sich in jedem Wasser" der Fall ist. Daher muss der Analogie von Religion und Sprache Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt werden, um in einer Zeit, in der die Rede vom "Clash of Civilizations" ist, eine Theorie der religiosen Toleranz zu entwickeln.

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First, the author takes examples from the discourse on monotheism and polytheism in Japan and the West, and describes their features. Next, he clarifies the cultural structure of that discourse by locating it in Orientalism and Occidentalism, as well as its religious structure by adding the additional aspect of idolatry. The ban on idolatry is a common ground of faith for monotheistic religions such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Idolatry is not restricted to the materialistic sense, but it functions also in terms of an "invisible idolatry, " including various ideas and images made by human beings. In addition, the author indicates that in the modern age idolatry has been reinterpreted with models such as "replacement, " "extension, " and "inversion." Finally, he argues that "invisible idolatry" can become a kind of structural violence, referring to eschatology and evolution theory. At the same time he suggests some points which could prevent discourse on monotheism and polytheism from shifting into violence.

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"Religious war" is a general term for wars that have broken out with religious problems as the major cause. In the west, the Crusades, Hussiten kriege, and Reconquista that occurred before the modern times, and Schmalkaldischer krieg, Huguenot, the Dutch War of Independence and the Thirty Years' War that occurred in the modern times, are considered examples of religious wars. Under critical situations such as a social crisis, economic crisis, political crisis, or religious crisis, a religion is connected with nationalism and becomes transformed and develops into a protagonist of an exclusive ethnic or national conflict or a religious war. Herein lies the essential structure of religious war. Two theories are presented regarding the relation between religion and nationalism that would lead to religious war : an amalgamation theory, and a transformation theory. The amalgamation theory is applicable to some extent to consider the causes of religious war, but does not provide sufficient ground to explain the brutality of religious war. Therefore, the transformation theory is presented. In this theory, a world religion is transformed into an exclusive entity influenced by nationalism. In other words, the eschatology and the perceptions of humans in a world religion designate those who will be saved and those who will perish at the Last Judgment. This designation is transformed into an exclusive nationalism, and the sense of supremacy of one's own nation or ethnic group.

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This essay examines whether "the principle of separation of church and state, " as a rule for coexistence of religious organizations and tolerance, is still a valid option in the current pluralistic society beyond its historical context. In order to achieve the purpose, I would first like to clarify what "the principle of separation of church and state" is, based upon various theories, by using the metaphor of the marketization of religions. I will then examine the possibility and validity of the principle in the current situation. The problem of the setting of the modern world and Protestantism, which has been often treated since the 19th century, will also be discussed.

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Myoe is a famous Buddhist monk of the Kamakura period in Japan. He is also known for his belief in old and traditional Japanese gods (kami). In this paper we will illuminate some problems in this area, the position of Myoe's belief in gods, and what he thought about the relationship between the buddhas and Japanese gods. In medieval times in Japan, the "Honji-Suijaku" theory of the mixture of buddhas and Japanese gods was already prevalent, and the old Japanese gods were assigned to the various buddhas as their original nature. Kasuga-Myojin, which was enshrined in the Kozanji-temple, gave Myoe several revelations, so it was an especially important god for him. His faith in Kasuga-Myojin, which preceded his faith in Shaka, was probably passed on to Myoe through Jokei. If we compare Myoe with Nichiren, Myoe's belief in gods is more natural and honest, and in his thought we can find that his belief in gods existed in harmony with his belief in buddhas.

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It must be admitted that religions were submissive to the nation in modern Japan, and supported the aggressive war with little resistance. It should also be admitted, however, that religious thinkers earnestly investigated the problem of the relation between religions and nation when they tried to establish their ideas on the nature of religion. In this article, I would like to examine the ideas of three Buddhist thinkers in the Meiji period on the relation between Buddhism and nation, and try to find out the reason why their ideas could not become a principle of resistance against the power of the nation. Shimaji Mokurai, who established freedom of religion, restricted the field of religion to individual minds, and thus could not provide a principle for criticizing national policy. Kiyozawa Manshi, who investigated the philosophical nature of the Absolute Infinitive, could not make clear the nature of the Otherness of the Absolute Infinitive and could only give in to the secular ethics of the nation. Tanaka Chigaku, who aimed to establish a religious nation, could not recognize the antagonism between nation and religion, and ended up uncritically following national policy. After having examined the ideas of these three thinkers, I would like to mention some aspects of the problem of Yasukuni Shrine, in order to clarify the relation between Buddhism and Shinto in modern Japan.

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