Church of World Messianity
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The Church of World Messianity (世界救世教 Sekai kyūsei kyō in Japanese) is a so-called "new religion" (Shinshukyo) founded in 1935 by Mokichi Okada (1882-1955), a former staff member of Omoto-kyo. The religion's key concept is Johrei, claimed to be a method of channeling divine light into the body of another for the purposes of healing. According to this religion, in 1926, Okada received a divine revelation and was empowered to be a channel of God's Healing Light (johrei) to remove illness, poverty, and strife from the world and inaugurate a new Messianic Age. Okada's teaching is represented by the scripture Johrei, which has been edited and translated by the Society of Johrei, an offshoot of Okada's movement.
The religion currently claims 800,000 followers, including many in Brazil. Sukyo Mahikari is based on Church of World Messianity teachings.
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[edit] COWM in Brazil
Brazil has the largest concentration of Japanese outside of Japan. According to Hideaki Matsuoka, University of California, Berkeley, in a presentation at the Summer 2000 Asian Studies Conference Japan entitled "Messianity Makes the Person Useful: Describing Differences in a Japanese Religion in Brazil", new Japanese religions have propagated in Brazil since the 1930's and they now have at least a million non-Japanese Brazilian followers. Three major religions ranked by the number of followers are: Seicho-No-Ie, Messianity, and Perfect Liberty. Besides churches, these religions have their own sacred places around Sao Paulo where their headquarters are.
Matsuoka reports that there is a sharp contrast between these Japanese new religions' sacred places and those of other Brazilian religions in their size, structure, and symbolism. Compared to both Catholic churches and gathering places of Brazilian spiritism such as Umbanda and Kardecist Spiritism, the sacred places of these new Japanese religions in Brazil are extensive. They look like small villages in the countryside; they have hills, creeks, and lodgings where pilgrims can stay. He opines that they may be considered theme parks full of religious symbols such as waterfalls, woods, and altars.
In Brazil, Guarapiranga is the sacred place of the Church of World Messianity.
[edit] Other New Religious Movements
Angelenos may be familiar with the vintage neon sign[1] of the "Superet Light Church" in the Mid-Wilshire district of Los Angeles. Such organizations offer--often on a smaller scale--some parallels to the Church of World Messianity in terms of spiritual healing practices using a form of "divine light", (see also Johrei, Reiki), and concern with global salvation and humanitarian causes. Interestingly, the Superet Light Church--whose literature also speaks of atoms and the aura [2]--was founded in 1925--around the same time as Okada's original revelation.
Such religious, spiritual, and occult movements, especially utilizing scientific, (or pseudoscientific), terminology, may be considered as part of a global social phenomenon occurring in the "chaotic" era following the First World War, and coinciding with liberal policies towards new religious movements in the U.S., Taisho- and Showa-era Japan, and elsewhere.
[edit] References
- Matsuoka, Hideaki. University of California, Berkeley, "Messianity Makes the Person Useful: Describing Differences in a Japanese Religion in Brazil", presented at the Summer 2000 Asian Studies Conference Japan.
- Wilson, Andrew, ed. (1991). World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts (ISBN 0-89226-129-3). New York, NY: Paragon House Publishers. Contains over 4,000 scriptural passages from 268 sacred texts and 55 oral traditions. The material is organized under 145 themes common to the texts and traditions. This site contains the complete text of the printed book.
