Many people have a fixed idea that if they have religious faith, they are bound by the religious ideologies and have less freedom. IT journalist, Mr. Sasaki Toshinao discussed this with Yosuke Hayashi, the head of IT Missionary Work Division of Happy Science, on a webcast program last November. During the interview, he said;”With people expressing revulsion against the Aum Shinrikyo cult or the Unification Church, unless diverse values are guaranteed, it may be difficult for religion to be widely accepted.” In the case of Aum Shinrikyo, many people fear becoming “brainwashed”, rather than just having their freedom restricted.

Some traditional religions, such as Islam, for example, are known both for the abuse of the human rights of women as well as enforcing “equality in poverty” on its followers. Likewise, the people of medieval Europe were tied down by the Christian Church until they were released by modern Enlightenment.

In pre-war Japan, the government introduced State Shinto as a kind of monotheism, leading to oppression against some traditional Buddhism and other religious sects.

Historically, it is no wonder that religion has been questioned and considered something that deprives people of freedom.

Is Happy Science akin to Nazism?

Some weekly magazines have run defamatory articles about Happy Science in which they have likened the organization to the totalitarianism of Nazi Germany. When Ryuho Okawa, the founder and CEO of Happy Science, revealed his true identity as a spiritual existence, these magazines distorted and misinterpreted his message.

Master Okawa taught that he is the incarnation of the core consciousness of El Cantare, the supreme God of the Earth, and that he is the rebirth of Sakyamuni Buddha, and also the Heavenly Father who guided Jesus Christ, and Allah who had given spiritual guidance to Muhammad, the founder of Islam. The magazine may have wondered if Ryuho Okawa and this new religion would take more freedom away from people than Islam or Christianity in the Middle Ages.

However, what exactly is totalitarianism? The German-born philosopher, Hannah Arendt who wrote “The Origins of Totalitarianism” stated that one of the characteristics of totalitarianism is “the absolute terror in concentration camps (or the purge)”. Totalitarianism is a political system wherein the orders of a dictator, or special political police can lead to the arrest of those who oppose the government, send them to concentration camps, imprison them under extreme conditions or execute them.

It is absurd to connect a certain religion with humanitarian tragedies such as the Holocaust of the Nazis, or the Great Purge by Stalin of the Soviet Union. Master Okawa refers to totalitarianism in his book, “The Origin of Political Philosophy,” saying “From the perspective of political philosophy, Happy Science has some elements that run directly counter to Hitlerian thinking.”

Breaking Free from “Brainwashing” by the Media

In fact, Happy Science has always fought against totalitarianism.
When it comes to influencing public attitude toward one direction, the Japanese media show a strong tendency toward totalitarian, but Happy Science has been consistently criticizing the nature of the media.

For instance, there were news reports that led people to think that Fukushima was uninhabitable due to the radioactive contamination caused by the nuclear accident that occurred at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake three years ago. However, about a month after the accident, Happy Science insisted, based on scientific research, that Fukushima is a safe place to live.

Furthermore, the Japanese media all advocate the cradle-to-grave welfare system. They claim that it represents absolute goodness for the government to unilaterally take care of all its people despite their economic need or ability to work. However, ideally, it is family members and relatives that should take on the role of caretaker, and social welfare should be enhanced through job creation by businesses and donations by benefactors. “The Liberty magazine” has reiterated that this would free people from having to demean themselves by asking the government for money.

Now we are seeing some sort of paradox that in order to break free from “brainwashing” by the media, you have to believe in religion.

Democracy That Includes the Spirit World

Master Okawa explains the liberal values of Happy Science as follows;
“The sacred light dwells in the mind of each one of us. The utopia emerges when the beings that possess such sacred light try to achieve self-realization according to the tendencies of their souls. This is what we call the ‘Philosophy of Freedom,’ and the fundamental idea of Happy Science.” (“Future-Oriented Education of Happy Science Academy”)

Each person has a unique personality, purpose of life, and mission that is theirs alone. Many different kinds of people try to improve by learning from others and grow spiritually. This democratic value is at the basis of Happy Science.

Even so, people are sometimes incompatible with, or opposed to each other. Thus we have to use wisdom and creativity to improve the world and make it prosper. This is the philosophy of Happy Science.

Master Okawa has further expanded democracy to include the spirit world. The Spiritual Message Series, that has recorded over 500 messages of the spirits of well-known figures, proves that the spirit world also reflects the spirit of democracy. Even divine beings like Tathagatas and Bodhisattvas in the Spirit World have different opinions and actively exchange their views freely.

Originally, Japanese politics originated from the discussions among multitudinous gods in the Takama-ga-hara (the Plain of High Heaven). Democracy of ancient Greece (which was the origin of Western democracy) also co-existed with the Oracle of Delphi. The unity of religion and politics that will allow us to manifest God’s ideal on Earth is about to be resurrected.

The above-referenced philosopher, Hannah Arendt says in one of her books, “Was ist Politik?” that politics is based on pluralism of humanity,” and Master Okawa expands the range of pluralism by revealing the “democracy of the gods.”

Let the Wind of Freedom Blow Through China’s Totalitarianism and Monotheism

Today’s Communist China is probably situated furthest away from the thinking that puts an emphasis on pluralism. The 1.3 billion Chinese people have no freedom of religious belief. Since Xi Jinping became the President, many religious leaders of the Christian churches that are given governmental recognition have been arrested for contravening the legal order. There were many similar incidents of religious oppression during the Cultural Revolution that started the latter half of the 1960’s. When religion was thoroughly eliminated, humans were no more than material objects or machines, resulting in tens of millions of murdered bodies piling up.

Happy Science has harshly criticized the Communist regime of China. The reason is if things remain as they are, there will be no freedom in that country, which makes it impossible for individuals to achieve self-realization in accord with the tendencies of their souls.

Monotheistic religions such as Christianity and Islam also tend not to recognize plurality. In fact, they are sometimes so intolerant that they might brand other religions as false and inadvertently begin to attack and destroy them. Happy Science is trying to solve the conflicts among these monotheistic religions. The key to achieving this is to have faith in “Supreme God”.

Under the supreme God, El Cantare, no world religion is deemed as false. In fact, each religion will develop its own strength and work in unison to save people. Any religion can proliferate in so far as it makes people happy. This too is the “democracy of the gods.” How much more civilized and fulfilling can it be, when compared to “religious wars” like those being fought in Iraq or Afghanistan?

Happy Science is now trying to let the wind of freedom blow through both the totalitarian regime of China and other monotheistic world religions.

The Spirit That Gets Rid of Totalitarianism

In Master Okawa’s spiritual message series, many well-known figures have already been summoned. Among them were Karl Marx who had a great influence on communism; Hitler of Nazi Germany; Stalin of the Soviet Union, who carried out the Great Purge; and Deng Xiaoping who paved the way for Chinese economic reform. It has been revealed that these “representatives” of totalitarian states are all in hell.

If a person goes to hell after death, it means that he or she lived in a way that harmed and victimized others in order to achieve their goals. Therefore, Marx, as an example, is isolated in the deepest part of hell, wrapped in some kind of a cocoon so that he will not influence spirits in the other world or people living on Earth.

You can gain an understanding through this spiritual message series about what kind of life will allow you to go to heaven and what kind of life will doom you to hell. By amassing the case studies, we are continuing to verify the universal laws.

If we try to live in accord with these universal laws and achieve self-realization without harming others, we will not lose freedom when we return to the other world (unlike Marx and others who have no freedom in hell). This is very similar to the “philosophy of freedom” of Hayek, the 20th Century economist and philosopher. Hayek said, “As long as people abide by laws, then they are basically free to do what they want to do.”

Will believing in religion cost one freedom? Is Happy Science totalitarian, like Nazism as some misguidedly say? The answer is absolutely no. The truth is the stronger your faith becomes, the more freedom you obtain, both in this world and the next.

It is the spirit and principle of behavior of Happy Science to wipe out totalitarianism around the globe and help to enrich the lives of all humanity.