Article January 27, 1992 Issue

Not a national God, but "one universal, infinite God"

As we read over the items in this special section on Japan, it surprised us momentarily that they seemed to relate so closely to another item we were working on at the same time—a Sentinel interview with an American clergyman.

In some ways he couldn't have been further culturally or geographically from the writers who agreed to contribute to this section on Japan. He is an African-American Protestant clergyman who ministers to inner-city youths. He told about the challenges of relating the gospel to young people who look at Christianity as something for white people of European heritage. But following a recent trip to Africa, the minister had come to see more clearly than ever before that the gospel is "not a gospel of America or a gospel of Europe ... but the gospel of the kingdom." (Excerpts from his interview will appear in the Sentinel next month.)

Toshiko Morikawa explains in an interview on the following pages that as a child she was taught that Christianity is a phenomenon of "Western civilization." But during her college years, learning of Christian Science, she came to the realization that God is universal Love, the Father and Mother of all. And another contributor, Kiyo Yada, speaks of moving beyond the "traditional thinking ... that there was a national God"—exclusive to only one nation or people—to an understanding of "one universal, infinite God. ... It's this spiritual understanding of God ... that Christ Jesus completely demonstrated, and that's what heals."

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