Is Atheism Only for the Upper Class? Socioeconomic Differences Among the Religiously Unaffiliated

[onager]

50. A funny line I heard in Japan...

"Fifty per cent of Japanese are Buddhist. Fifty per cent are Shinto. And fifty per cent have no religion at all."

OK, some pedant will point out the obvious - the % don't add up. I'm tempted to say they certainly do add up, for Japanese culture. And anyone who disagrees needs to check their Western mathematical privilege and re-consider their linear Occidental mindset. Or some such BS...

(I generally just laugh at all "check your privilege" demands on the Internet. Only about 35% of the world, IIRC, currently has internet access. So if you're chiding me for my privilege via your high-speed connection, I respectfully request that you go pound sand. Especially if you have >10,000 DU posts - which tells me you not only have good Internet access, but also a bunch of leisure time to spend on it.)

Anyway, my hotel had a nice little Buddhist shrine right outside. And just a few steps away, a giant torii (gateway arch) leading to a Shinto shrine. That hotel was the Capitol Tokyu, located right across the street from "Koreatown," adding another cultural glitch to the mix.

I also visited the largest Buddhist temple in Tokyo. Where for a few donated coins I got to breathe the Holy Smoke (incense) and for a few more coins dip into some sort of Buddhist holy water at a fountain. I think. Since I am a Militant/Fundamentalist Atheist, none of this bothered me one way or the other. I was just trying to be polite and not offend my hosts.

What did impress me were the crowded little streets around the temple - jammed with tiny shops selling every kind of Buddha kitsch imaginable.

Aside from American TV evangelists, I've only seen that level of Divine Hucksterism in one other place I've been on Earth - the streets around the Vatican in Rome.