Great Construction

Religion and Faith 

     Whether religion or faith, the general public tends to think these are identical, but in truth, there are many instances where the two differ. The popular saying, “Belief can come even from the head of a sardine” is referring to faith and not to religion. Similarly, primitive peoples worshipping grotesque statues made from wood or stone is faith but it is not religion.
     Thus it is not unreasonable that the cultured peoples of today tend to think of idolatry as a belief of a lower level. Even so, the idea that religions are all the same will not do. This is because what are considered religions can be divided into levels of higher, intermediate, and lower. Human beings can truly be saved only by religions of the higher level. It may seem odd to think in terms of levels in religions, but there are distinctions in everything of the universe, and religion is no exception. Religions of the higher levels are presided over by beings of the highest levels, so their authority and influence is of the highest and most powerful order, and it is only natural that they are accompanied by an appropriate power to save which is demonstrated by extraordinary miracles.
     For this reason there occur in World Messianity miracles in which diseases that medical science is not able to heal are healed, danger is avoided by a hair’s-breadth, and what should burn in a fire does not. The more remarkable the material blessings are in a religion evidences at its center a divine presence of the highest levels. 

Chijtôtengoku, Number 15, page 4, April 20, 1950
translation by cynndd

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This essay has previously appeared in translation. The citation is given below for reference.