Japan’s bishops have written to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. They want strict observance of the constitutional separation of state-sponsored ceremonies.
They say these ceremonies should be clearly separated from the imperial family’s private religious ones when the change of emperors takes place in 2019.
The bishops note this principle was “learned from reflection on history that Japan had fought wars under the emperor-centered national Shinto religion, and had violated the human rights and peace of many people in the world, especially Asian people.” Read more