V.E. Howard
The belief of a proposition, though honest and sincere one might be, does not make it right. We are told that in Japan there is a group of religious people who believe that if they write their prayers on a piece of paper, put the paper into the mouth and chew it into a “paper wad,” then throw the paper wad, on which the prayer was written, at an idol god, that if the paper wad sticks, their god is supposed to answer the prayer. But if it doesn’t stick, the prayer will not be answered.
Who would say these Japanese are not honest and sincere in this practice? But, I ask, my friends, does that make it true because they believe it to be so? They honestly believe they are right in this practice, but obviously their honesty and sincerity does not make it so.
In Japan, I have seen hundreds of pieces of paper, on which prayers were written, tied to the branches of a bush in the Buddhist temple areas. There can be no doubt about the honesty and sincerity of the people who wrote their prayers on pieces of paper and tied them to the branches of a bush, expecting their god to answer them, but that does not make it so. Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you in all sincerity, “Does it make any difference?”
