Newsletter No. 1249
News-Analysis
January 9, 2009

 

TARO ASO TAKES ON LAZY MONOTHEISTS

Have you ever wondered why there are so many Jews, Christians, and Muslims just lounging around and looking for handouts? Well, Taro Aso has an answer for you. Speaking in a Diet committee yesterday, the prime minister explained that Japanese people value a thing called “work,” while the adherents of three Abrahamic faiths just don’t see it that way.

While discussing the global economic crisis, Aso opined, “Our values in Japan regard hard work as important. To work is good. It’s completely different thinking from the Old Testament. We should share our philosophy with many other nations… In the Old Testament, God gave Adam punishment: labor. The Old Testament, Christianity, Islam -- if you add them up, what percent of the world is that? About 70% of religions hold a philosophy that work is a punishment.” Aso went on to explain that Japan’s oldest known book, the Kojiki, features the sun goddess and many other deities working diligently. Inspired by their example, the Japanese have become the world’s hardest workers.

So for those of you who think that the Gaza War shows that Jews, Christians, and Muslims have nothing in common, please take note: For Taro Aso and some other Japanese conservatives, you’re all a bunch of lazy monotheists just the same!