 Inoue’s strategy was to view Buddhism as a religion in the mode of a philosophy. He employed both categories in characterizing the aims and approach of Buddhism, seeking to demonstrate its superiority to Christianity. On the one hand, Buddhism shares the core concern of all religion, which is “the world of the absolute” (zettai sekai): “Religion teaches the way for our relative mind to enter into the absolute world. In Buddhism, this is namely the overturning of delusional thought and the awakening of enlightenment. Delusional thought indicates the finite, while enlightenment signifies the infinite” (Meishin to Shūkyō [Superstition and Religion], 1916, quoted in Josephson 2012, p. 159). On the other hand, when the superstitious practices that have attached themselves to Buddhist life are stripped away, its fundamental mode of thought, rooted in reason and causality, is seen to resemble scientific and philosophical thought. In this, it is distinct from Christianity, which Inoue believes is grounded in revelation and divine creation. To counter the notion of creationism that Gordon proposed as the foundation of genuine religion, Japanese Buddhists drew on the Western science of evolution as the razor that would shear superstition from a more properly “philosophical” version of religion.