But the relation of the educated classes toward Shintō is quite different. A knowledge of science has shown the foolishness of personifying and deifying the forces of nature and of worshipping foxes, badgers, and other animals. Moreover, the scientific study of the Japanese annals has revealed the absurdities of much that had been accepted as real history, and has shown that the so-called historical foundation of Shintō is a mass of myths and legends. The well-educated Japanese do not believe the nonsense of the “Kojiki”[156] upon which the claim that the Emperor should be worshipped is based; but few, if 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 closing year of the nineteenth century, another step downward was taken by making a complete official demarcation between Shintō shrines and Buddhist temples. Hereafter Buddhist and Christian matters come under the charge of the Bureau of Religions; while Shintō affairs are entirely secularized and set apart under a Bureau of Shrines. This is the final step in the official _disestablishment of Shintō_. It is one of the greatest triumphs of civilization and Christianity in Japan, for it has evidently been made necessary by the spread of the gospel; and this move is fraught with deep significance, with great promise and encouragement.