Just as Catholics venerate Saints {which has not been called ancestral worship},
Shintoists venerate Kami {spirits}, African people also venerate their ancestors.
For instance, when Buddhism was first introduced to Japan from Korea, the Japanese, being a nation of
Shintoists, were initially hostile to this foreign religion (not so much because of doctrinal differences but because Buddhism was foreign).
According to the World Almanac 2010, revised numbers of adherents to each faith show there are close to 7.7 million followers of Baha'i' faith with most in Africa, around 6.4 million followers of Confucius, most in Asian countries, almost 2.8 million
Shintoists, most living in Japan, nearly 23 million Sikhs, mostly in India, 3.4 million Taoists, mostly in China, and 200,000 Zoroastrians, living in the Middle East.
Their manner of use was decried as idolatrous by icon-shy Japanese
Shintoists and forcibly prohibited: dramatically turning the tables on conventional assumptions by missionaries of their own superior chastity in matters visual piety over 'pagans'.
The Toxic singer also wished her fans well when she appeared on Japanese TV, and said "Happy Christmas" to the audience that was mainly made up of non-Christian Buddhists and
Shintoists. (ANI)
Though the country attracts its share of lip-service gaijin Buddhists and
Shintoists, Japan can be quite a spiritual place.
acted similarly by outlawing certain forms of Shinto during World War II, because the
Shintoists were worshiping the head of state of a country with which the United States was at war.)
Dozens of Muslims,
Shintoists, Buddhists and others spread out across Assisi to pray in various locations, and later came together for an evening procession for peace.
Among numerous examples are: the persecution of the adherents of Amon of Ikhnaton (Ahmenhotep IV) by the religious establishment of Egypt; of the Canaanites by the Israelites; of Jesus and the early Christians by the Romans; of Buddhists by
Shintoists; of Sufis by Orthodox Muslims; of heretics and Jews by Christians; of Muslims by Christians and Christians by Muslims; of Protestants by Catholics and of Catholics by Protestants; of Anabaptists by Lutherans; of sectarians by Eastern Orthodoxy and, indeed, by established churches generally; of "witches" and Quakers by Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony; and of religious dissenters by religious establishments, as in present-day Iran.
INEI estimates that adherents of non-Christian religions, including Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and
Shintoists, accounted for 2.5 percent of the population, while agnostics and atheists constitute 1.4 percent.
Some readers might say: Come on, the mortal threat to this country isn't coming from Jews or evangelicals or
Shintoists. It's coming from Muslims.
Organized by the Community of Sant'Egidio, a Rome-based lay Catholic group, and titled "War and Peace: Faiths and Cultures in Dialogue," the meeting drew influential Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, and
Shintoists as well as political leaders, including EU Commission President Romano Prodi and German President Johannes Rau.
(Thus most Japanese, in terms of the rituals they follow, are both Buddhists and
Shintoists.)
(9.) "Other believers" include Hindus, Buddhists, Confucians, Taoists,
Shintoists, and Animists.
Today there are an estimated six million Muslims (rapidly growing not only through immigration but also because of high birth rates and numerous conversions), millions of Buddhists, one million Hindus, hundreds of thousands each of Sikhs, Zoroastrians, Bahai,, Jains, Confucians, Pagans, and
Shintoists. There are an estimated 1,350 diverse religious denominations in this country!
