Church demolished in Japan, Xtians cries foul
Japanese Christian relics – including the Holy Grail – have been brutally demolished “by a government no better than a terrorist organization,” outraged Christian activists tell Shukan Asahi (4/18).
Pork barrel projects in the Amagusa district of Kumamoto Prefecture known for its strong links to feudal era Christianity and the greatest Christian rebellion this country has known have destroyed some of the religion’s most prized artifacts.
“The Amagusa Kurishitankan (Christian Building) was demolished as part of a restoration project funded by the special road maintenance taxes and the Christians’ Holy Grail was obliterated,” Christian activist and Amagusa citizens’ ombudsman Osamu Nakata tells Shukan Asahi. “We want to spread this message worldwide through the Vatican, the Pope and foreign media.”
Demolition of the building housing examples of Amagusa’s valuable Christian heritage took place in January this year. The work was part of about 800 million yen the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism will devote to projects in about 1,300 districts across Japan, including Amagusa, over a four-year period. The demolition went ahead despite not having the required local residents’ permission.
“The government said the Kurishitankan had become too old and they would re-build it, so it had to come down. But tests on the building’s age showed no problem with its durability,” Nakata says. “They’ve spent 2.7 billion yen building white elephants in Amagusa. It’s a waste of taxpayers’ money.”
I can understand the anger but really, if they’ve demolished the building for whatever reasons, just build a new one. There’s no value in being attached to an inanimated object if faith is suppose to transcend all these materialistic things. With this, I have a quote I would like to share because some people just place too much emphasis on buildings and materials dedicated to their faith that without it, it’s almost like the end of the world with them.
“Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than going to a garage makes you a mechanic” – Laurence J. Peter
Chew on that.
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April 18th, 2008 at 5:19 am
I agree that the more “vocal” sentiments seen in the Christian media need to be scrutinized and that Christ followers should look more at the actions of Christ rather than their Christian “stuff.”
However, at the same time, I think for someone to be upset about this is reasonable. If you had a precious stuffed animal that your grandmother gave you before she died, you wouldn’t be too happy if someone threw it away on account of it being old. For some people, there wass sentimental value in that building, and whether or not its integrity was in question, I wouldn’t expect them to be apathetic.
But yes, calling the government “terrorists” is a bit childish.