Source: Bertrand Russell: Human Society in Ethics and Politics, 1954, part II: The Conflict of Passions, chapter 5: Cohesion and Rivalry, n7
More info.： https://russell-j.com/cool/47T-2_0507.htm
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I tried having a conversation with ChatGPT.
Me: What can be said about Japan (its religion) in relation to the following passage? Japan has the belief in Yaoyorozu (eight million) gods, but it seems to have a different nature from what the West refers to as "polytheism." It is believed that people from Sakhalin, the Chinese mainland, and the southern regions came to Japan and gradually merged, forming the Japanese people.
"Upper and Lower Egypt had different gods, and so had Babylon and Ur. But when cities coalesced into empires, their religions coalesced into pantheons, so that the area covered by a common culture grew with the growth of States. It grew, in fact, faster than States did. The Greeks had a common culture in spite of having no political unity. Buddhism produced a cultural unity throughout China, Japan, Tibet, Burma and Ceylon."
ChatGPT: As you pointed out, Japan’s religious landscape has a different nature from Western "polytheism." Western polytheism, as seen in Greek and Roman mythology, often features an organized system where gods have clearly defined relationships and roles. In contrast, Japan’s Yaoyorozu no Kami (the myriad gods) are more decentralized, coexisting loosely while being closely linked to nature worship and ancestor worship, with different gods being revered in different localities.
Furthermore, unlike Egypt and Mesopotamia, where religious systems were "unified" as cities merged, Japan seems to have followed a pattern where different beliefs "syncretized" while coexisting. For example, when Buddhism was introduced to Japan, it was not structured in opposition to Shinto but rather took the form of "Shinbutsu-sh?g?" (the fusion of Shinto and Buddhism), a notable feature of Japanese religious history.
The background of Japan’s cultural unification can also be understood as being shaped more by geographic and ethnic integration than by imperial unification, as seen in Egypt and Mesopotamia. People from Sakhalin, the Chinese mainland, and the southern regions gradually merged, forming the Japanese people, which likely influenced the development of its religious traditions as well.
From this perspective, Japan does not follow the pattern of "religions being unified as cities unify," but rather, "different beliefs coexisting through syncretism, leading to a gradual formation of cultural unity."
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