SO TO ZEN - Shasta Abbey

The Religion of the Future 95How does the objective aspect of religion, i.e., thedoctrine, credo and system, develop? Development must meana steady increase in values. The factors which stimulate thedevelopment of religion are: 1) an interchange of different cultures,2) the development of scientific culture, 3) an advancein moral concepts and 4) changes in social structure. Of coursereligion belongs to that realm which transcends the narrowconfines of science, morality, culture and society. But if it is todevelop in the future as a cultural religion, it cannot overlookthe factors mentioned above.The impact of the effect of different cultures on religion isvery great. The Crusades from a religious point of view mayhave had certain shortcomings, but their merit in introducingEastern culture to the West and Western culture to the East iscertainly undeniable. The case of the Second World War issimilar: on the one hand it was a great tragedy, but on theother, it was responsible for bringing about a great culturalinterchange between East and West. Needless to say, weearnestly desire this interchange, but without the curse of war.Developments in transportation facilities will do much towardthe realization of this goal. In particular, achievements in thefield of aeronautics have contributed much toward reducing theisolation of countries throughout the world. After the end of theSecond World War, representative groups of people from allwalks of life in Japan visited the United States to observe