Japan's law on religion and management of religion

Since the 1946 enactment of the "Religious Legal-Person Ordinance", the Japanese law on religion has gone through more than ten revisions, but its consistent principles have always been freedom of religion and the separation of church and state. The government has always respected the righ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inChinese law & religion monitor Vol. 8; no. 1; p. 48
Main Author Wenliang, Zhang
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington ChinaAid Association, Inc 01.01.2012
Subjects
Church & state
Freedom of religion
Legislation
Religion
Japan
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Summary:Since the 1946 enactment of the "Religious Legal-Person Ordinance", the Japanese law on religion has gone through more than ten revisions, but its consistent principles have always been freedom of religion and the separation of church and state. The government has always respected the right of religious legal persons to autonomy and self-regulation. With regard to the internal management of religious groups, the "denomination council" system and the "responsible officer" system reflect the principle of democracy and equality, providing protection at the system level for the post-war development of religion. Because of a relaxed policy environment and democratized management, religion in post-war Japan developed greatly. But after the Aum Shinrikyo incident in 1995, the Japanese government made major revisions to the law on religion. While still respecting the self-management of religious groups, the government strengthened its management of them, and the activities of religious groups came under certain limitations. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:1554-3013
2160-2387