Originally posted by Maciamo
Well maybe not taken apart, but placed in the context of what I have said before, it takes a totally different dimension. What's more, I am just judging though the Judeo-Christian moral system (=> see the 7 deadly sins), which anyway don't apply in non Christian Japan. I suppose you are also Christian because you seem offended by the fact I call the Japanese immoral in regard of these standards. As you probably know (I hope), "moral" as nothing of universal. I am not Christian myself, so it's neither good nor bad to consider Japan immoral by Christian standards, as Christian might very well be immoral by another religion or philosophy's standard as well. Japanese have Buddhism and Shinto in their culture and neither of them is a moral religion, so you can't really judge Christian back from their point of view.
Perhaps all that torakris was implictly trying to imply was that on the scale of Japanese immorality and materialism this ranks as something extremely minor and that Christian/Westerners (apparently this wasn't written from a Christian perspective -- or you two would be in agreement) cannot/shouldn't judge back on 'Buddhist ethics' either