The ritual as a religious experience

Moore and Habel identify the mediated religious experience (Moore and Habel: 1982).　 The believer experiences the sacred through mediators such as rituals, special persons, religious groups, totemic objects or the natural world (Habel et al: 1993).Wikipedia “Religious Experience”

Although it is sometimes said that the wedding chapel experience is not a religious one, the application of elements which are inherently religious makes this opinion highly questionable. There are people who believe the priest is real, the Bible is a real one, and the atmosphere is ‘authentic’. The carefully orchestrated simulation of a religious ritual has the potential to be construed as a religious experience. To claim that the couples never believe they are actually receiving a ‘blessing’ from God via the priest is to assume too much. This is not a clear cut matter of suspension of belief. When the participants fail to see the ‘actor’ and see the ‘agent of God’ instead, the whole simulation becomes something quite different. By failing to inform clients of the reality, a degree of illusion comes into play.

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Humans are spiritual beings. Cultures across the globe exhibit the tendency of humankind to reach out to the Divine. Some cultures have elaborate codes and traditions and others are much more simplistic and/or mystic. Japan, at one time, had the state religion of Shinto. However, these days the vast majority of Japanese are known for having no particular religious affiliation.

That said; When the young student makes a special visit to the shrine to pray for academic success; or when the housewife rings the bell, clasps hands and makes her prayer, in that moment, could it not be a genuine religious experience?

Sure, they may well walk away and never give the thing a second thought. They would probably not conclude that the event had made them a practitioner of religion as such, and the experience of that spiritual moment may not affect their everyday life in any significant way. But what about that moment. A heartfelt yearning for spiritual reality, even just for a moment.

Now let us go up to the altar in any Wedding Chapel. A young couple are making solemn vows one to another. The atmosphere has been primed with hymns to Jesus and the venue is unmistakably 'Church-like'. The passage from the Bible has been read earnestly. The minister is now pronouncing a prayer of blessing... The couple don't fully comprehend the pastor's words, but in their hearts, they are reaching for the Divine, just for a moment.

A westerner who helped arrange a Wedding celebration touches on this topic here:

...[they] wanted to take part in it seriously. Not in the sense of believing the whole Christian message, but in the sense of this being a representation of the commitment they were making to each other in the eyes of each other and whatever God may or may not be up there.

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The following video can be seen in full here on Youtube. Although twenty years old it raises some interesting questions that are still relevant today.

The Bride and Groom evidently see no religious significance in the ceremony to them personally yet the prayer of blessing and protection over the couple is quite profound. An internet source (transcript of the documentary) states that the priest was in fact a Catholic minister --- this seems very dubious as the Tamahimeden Palace does not appear to be consecrated ground and there is no hint of the couple receiving preparatory counseling of any kind . The author contacted the producers and this is what was told:

You are probably right that he was not a true priest and I am sure the couple did not undergo the proper training. It was not strictly a religious ceremony -- it just looked like one.

The point here is that if the producers made the assumption (at the time of writing the transcript) that the Priest was real; the happy couple could have just as easily drawn that conclusion too.

The commentator talks about the Japanese not taking interest in the substance of these matters. The cake in the Shinto style wedding at the start is made of rubber for goodness sake! But what effort is being made to make people aware of the deep significance of Christian marriage?. Precious little I fear.

Why is it that Japanese people (on the whole) are disinterested in the substance of Christianity? Some people make mention of the collapse of State Shintoism and the cynicism which followed. The essay which can be read here touches on this matter. Christians might better understand it in terms of what the Bible describes; people are dead in their sins and trespasses, they are spiritually blind. (Eph 2:1, 2 Cor 4:4) For this very reason, caution must be exercised when asking non-Christians about their understanding and experience of 'religion'.

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Why do many people say 'it is not a religious event' when the Bible is read, hymns are sung and prayers are made to God?

Why are the clients often not told whether the Priest is real or not?

Why don't the clients ask probing questions more often?