<This is a response for Rob_Broad's posting a while back.>
It is possible that Mitose talked to Ed Parker about some of the spiritual aspects of Kosho Shorei Ryu Kenpo. Mitose came to feel that his teaching of only the physical components of Kosho in Hawaii was a mistake. (This was something he sought to rectify in his later years with Bruce Juchnik.) However, I don't know of any suggestion that James Mitose was considering aligning Kosho Shorei Ryu Kempo with its own organized religion.
The limiting factor of most modern incarnations of martial arts styles is the loss of the essence of the art, namely, the inherent spirituality necessary to truly describe it. I guess it's because Westerners often confuse spirituality with religion - and successful businesses have to stay secular. After all, that is one of the fundamental truths of MA in the Western world - we propogate the arts via a business model. We have had to adapt each respective art to this paradigm in some way or another. Yet, this is not necessarily a bad thing - as long as we try not to sacrifice the spirit of the art. So that is the challenge - to walk the tightrope between staying true to the original spirit and simultaneously remaining a viable enterprise. I believe that many have accepted this challenge, and have done it well.
