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242 any, dare to give public expression to their own private opinions, for they love life and reputation more than liberty of speech. And many of those who really know better not only will employ the old fictions in word of mouth or on the written page, but will even visit shrines and go perfunctorily through the forms of worship.

Now it is quite evident that, ever since the opening of Japan and the consequent spread of popular education, the diffusion of scientific knowledge, and the propagation of Christianity, Shintō?] as a religion has been doomed. Not merely monotheism, but also science, ridiculed the Shintō?] doctrine of myriads of gods; and even atheism and agnosticism, so heartily welcomed in Japan, would not lend any support to the superstitions of Shintō. Ever since the Restoration of 1868, which was, of course, a revival of pure political Shintō, frequent attempts have been made to have Shintō declared, in actual fact, by special enactment, the State religion of Japan. But religious Shintō?] has been suffering a gradual decline, as Dr. Griffis shows in "The Religions of Japan." For a little while the council that had charge of Shintō?] matters "held equal authority with the great council of the government. Pretty soon the first step downward was taken, and from a supreme council it was made one of the ten departments of the government. In less than a year followed another retrograde movement, and the department was called a board. Finally, in 1877, the board became a bureau." And, in the