77 No 4 July-August. 1982
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
77 NO 4 JULY-AUGUST. 1982 C J‘N-fm'Ay LIBERTY July1August, 1982 •ITHE•TOLERANCE•GAMEIN • - - --y --„st • "I Will Tomorrow Not at School Be" • - • - --==r - - BY ELFRIEDE VOLK How I dreaded hearing else about going to a new school—having Taking a deep breath, I blurted, "I will the teachers and students find out that I was every Saturday away be. I go to—to church my Canadian teacher's different, that I was "strange." As a at Saturday." displaced person following the war, I had I clenched my teeth, dreading what might response! been through the humiliation several times come. I thought of Hugo Schwarz, a friend sat on the sunlit steps of the one-room already. My family had moved from Ger- in Germany, who spent every weekend in country school, trying to pay attention many to Czechoslovakia, to Poland, to jail because he refused to let his children to Gary, a grade-six student, reading Sweden, to Holland, and finally to Canada. attend school on Saturday, which he consid- 1from Dick and Jane. But Gary's voice And here I was, in my sixth country, and I ered to be God's holy Sabbath. Young as I kept drifting out of my consciousness; I was only 10 years old. was, I knew that every country had its own was wrestling with a problem far greater than I remembered the last school I had laws. What would be the Canadian posi- the complexities of learning a new language. attended in Holland, where a delegation of tion? It was Friday afternoon, and I knew that students had demanded why I had special The teacher tilted up my chin and smiled today I would have to tell my teacher. The privileges and never attended school on down at me. "I'm glad you go to church," lump in my stomach seemed to swell and Saturdays. Diplomatically, the teacher had he said. "You are in Canada now. In come up into my throat at the mere thought explained that I belonged to a small group of Canada no one goes to school on Saturday. of it, and my palms grew clammy. Christians who kept the same Sabbath Jesus It is a holiday. So you go to church Gary finally realized I wasn't paying had kept. But I could still feel myself tomorrow, and then I'll go to church on attention, and he closed the reader. He blushing under the stares of my classmates. Sunday, and on Monday we'll both come picked up a handful of rocks from the There was a way to avoid this hassle, I back to school." schoolyard and threw them at a can on top of knew. Several children in my Sabbath Slowly the wonderful truth dawned on one of the fenceposts. A cow grazing in the school class had elected to attend classes on me. I was finally in a country where I was pasture at the other side turned to stare at Saturdays to escape the stigma of being free to worship without fear of reprisal from him, then resumed grazing. I wrung my different. But what about conscience? Even classmates, teachers, or civil authorities. As hands nervously, trying to think of the right though I was only 10, I believed that the the wonderful fact sank in, I suddenly words to say. seventh day is the Sabbath and that God understood a bit of the song we often sang in I waited until the other children had gone requires man to keep it holy. How could I class— before I approached the teacher's desk. "I knowingly go against His commandment? "0 Canada! Glorious and free!" ❑ will tomorrow not at school be," I said "I will not be here tomorrow either," the timidly, keeping my eyes on the ground. teacher said. He looked puzzled, as if he Elfriede Volk lives in Summerland, British This is what I dreaded more than anything was not sure he had heard me correctly. Columbia. LIBERTY (ISSN 0024-2055) IS PUBLISHED BIMONTHLY AND COPYRIGHTED © 1982 BY THE REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING ASSN., 6856 EASTERN AVE., NW., WASH., D.C. 20012. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE USS5.25 PER YEAR. SINGLE COPY. US90 CENTS. PRICE MAY VARY WHERE NATIONAL CURRENCIES ARE DIFFERENT. VOL. 77, NO. 4, IULY-AUG., 1982. POSTMASTER: SEND FORM 3579 TO SAME ADDRESS. ILLUSTRATION BY JEFFREY DEVER/COVER BY ZEB ROGERSON 3 LIBERTY ITHIE•TOLE BY VIRGINIA ROSE Whatever the answer, things are better than in 1942, when Buddhist ministers were imprisoned, congregations deported, and temples closed. uddhists of one main U.S. sect number 185,000,* sentiments held toward the Japanese people. During World yet American buddhism is not always accorded War II, Buddhist churches in America were virtually the status of a genuine religion. The Associated extinguished because of their predominantly Japanese Press Almanac has described Buddhism as "more character. A commission established to study the right of Bof a philosophy and system of ethics than a religion."' A Japanese-American citizens and permanent resident aliens to Protestant minister remarked that he did not consider restitution for their internment during World War II soon will Buddhism a real religion because "they don't have submit a report to Congress that will include the impact of the churches." Many Buddhist sects do have churches (more government's relocation policy on Buddhists in America.' than one hundred in this country for one sect alone).' In some Buddhism was introduced into the continental United sects they also have bishops, abbots, and teaching acade- States in 1899 when Buddhist ministers arrived to serve the mies.' This well-established religious structure has not, needs of Japanese immigrants.' By the early twentieth however, prevented American Buddhism from being viewed century approximately twenty-five Buddhist churches of the with some disdain, suspicion, or outright hostility. Because dominant sect had been established. In 1929 the Buddhist Buddhism in the United States is generally of Japanese Mission of North America began training ministers in origin, attitudes about the religion itself sometimes reflect English, as well as Japanese. By the 1930s Buddhism was attracting a few non-Asian as well as Japanese adherents.' *Most documentation in this article refers to Buddhist At the same time, Christian groups mounted a determined Churches of America, a major denomination of the Shin-shu effort to convert the Japanese population to Christianity. sect. Other sects (not all Japanese) are active in the U.S. The They included not only religious instruction but also free familiar Zen sect has the greatest Caucasian following. English lessons and aid in securing positions in domestic 4 PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES July/August, 1982 Clockwise from far left: Clutching his prayer beads. a Buddhist priest r padlocks the temple door. Ticketed for deportation. While their sons served, these mothers lived in a relocation camp. Her new home is to be behind barbed wire. Her Buddhist son returned from volunteer service to help the family evacuate. service.' But the underlying message was clear: Buddhism minister of the Salt Lake City Buddhist temple was interned was paganism and its practitioners heathens. A Christian in Montana while his wife and congregants were allowed to clergyman confronted the minister of the New York Buddhist stay in the community. The government interned the Phoenix church: "America is a Christian country," he said. "Why do Buddhist temple minister and leaders and confined the New you teach Buddhism?" 8 A Japanese woman in California York Buddhist church minister to Ellis Island. remembers that when she refused to attend Christian The arrests of ministers disrupted worship services. Often religious instruction she was scolded and threatened with congregants were afraid to approach a temple for fear of divine punishment by the nun who came regularly to the being apprehended. Fearing reprisals, the temples them- public school to assemble the children for catechism.' selves canceled services." When the outbreak of World War II strained relations Why did the government target Buddhist ministers? For between Japanese Americans and Caucasians, American one reason, authorities seemed to confuse Buddhism with Buddhists felt the effects. In March, 1942, all people Shintoism, the Japanese state religion, which prescribes possessing one sixteenth or more Japanese blood who resided respect for a strict social and moral hierarchy of elders, in the Pacific States were ordered to relocation centers as ancestors, leaders and the Japanese emperor. U.S. officials potentially dangerous aliens. '° Even before this general assumed that Buddhist ministers would preach loyalty to the evacuation, however—in some cases as early as the evening emperor of Japan and incite their congregants to hostile or of Pearl Harbor day—presidents of various Buddhist temples and a number of ministers were removed from their temples Virginia Rose, a New Yorker, is a free-lance writer with an and homes." In inland states, from which Japanese were not M.A. in anthropology. She has a special interest in oriental evacuated, Buddhist ministers often were incarcerated. The religion and interethnic relations. 5 LIBERTY •ITHE•TOLE I I I Clockwise from above: The signs tell the story. Tagged for relocation center. The All-Japanese American 422d Combat Team received more casualties and decorations than any unit of comparable size in the Army's history. A Buddhist priest poses for farewell picture outside Buddhist temple. Alameda, California, Buddhist temple. National Buddhist headquarters in San Francisco. Off to camp they go, still pledging allegiance to the American flag. 6 ,HC1 July1August, 1982 espionage activities. Buddhism, a notably apolitical religion emphasizing harmony among all things and the quest for spiritual enlightenment, has no such creed.'4 Further confusion resulted from the use by some Buddhist churches of a bent cross sign, which, if inverted, remarkably resembles the Nazi swastika.