Philanthropy

I watched a TV program having dinner last night. "At that time, the course of history changed". http://www.nhk.or.jp/sonotoki/sonotoki_list.html
Because I'm weak in history, TV sagas and period dramas of NHK are always my history teacher.

The TV program was a story about a beautiful woman who was called " a flower of Rokumeikan". Because her daughters were mentally handicapped and she visited the boarding school for mentally handicapped to give her children a chance to study. And she married a man who managed the school and after her husband died, she didn't close the school in spite of a huge debt.
It seems that handicapped children were still discriminated against in Meiji period and the government didn't care of them. The TV program was short but I can imagine that to manage this kind of school was a hard job for her and her husband.
The woman was born in a rich family and probably she had lived free from care. Such a woman accepted her heroic destiny. But I imagine she was happy because she could marry a man who had same resolution. Even if she can live free from care, she cannot be happy if she and her husband don't have something in common with each other. Their resolution came from Christianity.

Christmas season has come. It's a celebration of Christianity. I don't know much about it and I don't understand the meaning of philanthropy yet. In Japanese, the word of philanthropy has an image that a person is looking down from a height. The word sometimes means hypocrisy. Why?

The school for mentally handicapped near my house was established around Christian beliefs. And I know there are many homes to help people who want to escape from domestic violence in Japan. They're also established around Christian beliefs. The government recently noticed the problem was getting serious but there isn't any public institution like those. Because of Christian beliefs, people practice philanthropy and people who have troubles get their home. We should know the fact.

I'm ordinary Japanese. I ate a piece of cake on Christmas Day and went to a temple at the New year's Eve and went to a shrine at the New Year's Day. We Japanese seem to be a Buddhist but sometimes I think we believe science. Nobody would believe our ancestor was Izanagi and Izanami who were Japanese God. Even if the person didn't study science, he/she believes our ancestor is monkey. Our religion might be science.
Buddhism is peaceful but it doesn't give us motivation to help people who are discriminated. Buddhism is a religion for dead person or the life after the death. Buddhism teaches that if we don't forget to repeat of Namuamidabuthu, we will be rescued in the next world. But I want to be rescued in this world where I'm living now. Buddhism or Shinto hasn't given me new resolution or philosophy. Why?

I think that believing Christian might believe all people are a child of God. And I notice that we don't have no match for philanthropy. Science is useful and explains everything. But it cannot be religion and it doesn't have a power to move people's heart.
We need a religion for people who are living.