I color or Bolden my posts so you know the important stuff and don't have to read the full article.
People have done heinous crimes in the name of Shinto. Some Shinto adherents and leaders were bigots too.
However, the Religion of Shinto has no inerrant divinely inspired text that can be used to justify those crimes. The Bible and Quran on the other hand, do indeed justify heinous crimes, bigotry, calls to violence, and genocide.
This is why I cannot be a Christian , Muslim, or follow most Abrahamic faiths. To be a Christian, Muslim, or most of those sects, I have to believe those Scriptures (sacred texts) are without error , and inspired by God, or I'm declared a heretic.
The Bible and Quran also speak of tossing people into a lake of fire or torturing them after their death.
The difference between violent Abrahamic Religious people and Regimes, and violent Shinto regimes, is violent adherents to Shinto are not receiving messages from a sacred text that is without error, telling them it's okay to kill, judge, and condemn.
The Bible and Quran has caused billions of people to believe that people are tortured after their death for being unbelievers, Idolaters, or certain sins.
That is found in those inerrant words of God. It has nothing to do with Shinto.
There is no bigotry in Shinto that I am aware of. The Bible and Quran speak of a wrathfull God who burns cities, commands genocides, calls people to "kill the Polytheists wherever you find them", tosses people into a lake of fire, and the gruesome amputation of limbs and tortures found in the Quran, simply makes me ill, because regimes have done that stuff in my lifetime, and their Holy book can be used to justify it. 
Many Shinto adherents committed heinous crimes, but I will let you know, not all Kami are good. There are bloodthirsty mischievous malevolent Kami that can inspire people to do bad.
But in Shinto there is also a tradition that bad Kami can become your friend and do good and change. And I think that is just beautiful.
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But
Shinto never commands anyone to kill, judge, condemn, or be a bigot. The original Shinto shrines were blessed trees View attachment 56884 and Shinto followers found Kami in nature, woodlands, mountains, caves, rivers, bodies of water, islands, and sacred places.
Shinto later had a practice of building homes, Hondens, (rooms and structures closed to the public , for the enshrined Kami to dwell)
)View attachment 56881 View attachment 56883View attachment 56882
Kamidana cupboards View attachment 56875 View attachment 56876 for Kami to dwell and be loved and blessed. Then the Kami return the love and blessings. Kami grow, evolve, heal, and transform into greater Kami through our prayers, offerings, sacrifices, and blessings.
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"Shinto ("the way of the Kami") is the name of the formal state religion of Japan that was first used in the 6th century C.E., although the roots of the religion go back to at least the 6th century B.C.E. Shinto has no founder, no official sacred texts, and no formalized system of doctrine. Shinto has been formative in developing uniquely Japanese attitudes and sensitivities, creating a distinct Japanese consciousness. Belief in
kami—sacred or divine beings, although also understood to be spiritual essences—is one of the foundations of Shinto.
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Shinto understands that the
kami not only exist as spiritual beings, but also in nature; they are within mountains, trees, rivers, and even geographical regions. In this sense, the kami are not like the all-powerful divine beings found in Western religion, but the abstract creative forces in nature. Related to the kami is the understanding that the
Shinto followers are supposed to live in harmony and peaceful coexistence with both nature and other human beings. This has enabled Shinto to exist in harmony with other religious traditions
Shinto Origins, Shinto History, Shinto Beliefs
"At the core of Shinto are beliefs in the mysterious creating and harmonizing power (musubi) of kami and in the truthful way (makoto) of kami. The nature of kami cannot be fully explained in words, because kami transcends the cognitive faculty of man.
Today, parishioners of a shrine believe in their tutelary kami as the source of human life and existence. Each kami has a divine personality and responds to truthful prayers.
Truthful way or will (
makoto) of kami is revealed to people and guides them to live in accordance with it. In traditional Japanese thought, truth manifests itself in empirical existence and undergoes transformation in infinite varieties in time and space. In Shinto , good deities are said to cooperate with one another, and life lived in accordance with a kami's will, is believed to produce a mystical power that gains the protection, cooperation, and approval of all the particular kami.
A common Shinto saying is that "man is kami's child." First, this means that a person was given his life by kami and that his nature is therefore sacred. In actuality, however, this divine nature is seldom revealed in man, which gives rise to the need for purification an individual must revere the basic human rights of everyone as well as his own.
Shinto is described as a religion of tsunagari ("continuity or community"). The Japanese, while recognizing each man as an individual personality,
do not take him as a solitary being separated from others. On the contrary, he is regarded as the bearer of a long, continuous history that comes down from his ancestors and continues in his descendants. Shinto adherents are called to invoke their ancestors, love them, pray for them, and bless them.
From the viewpoint of finite individuals, Shintoists also stress naka-ima ("middle present"), which repeatedly appears in the Imperial edicts of the 8th century. According to this point of view, the present moment is the very center in the middle of all conceivable times. In order to participate directly in the eternal development of the world, it is required of Shintoists to live fully each moment of life, making it as worthy as possible.
The General Principles of Shinto Life proclaimed by the Association of Shinto Shrines in 1956 has the following article: "In accordance with the Emperor's will, let us be harmonious and peaceful, and pray for the nation's development as well as the world's co-prosperity."
Shinto Beliefs - ReligionFacts
This is not a blog but a debate. Is the violence that Shinto adherents committed in the name of Shinto, intrinsic to the nature and essence of Shinto?
If so, how?
Keep in mind, Shinto existed long before Jesus Christ, it just wasn't called Shinto.
