The Postwar Constitution and Religion

Abstract

State Shintō, or the close identification of Shintō with the emperor cult, was considered not a religion but a state ideology. It was therefore exempt from the rules of religious freedom and forced upon the imperial subjects of prewar Japan. The postwar constitution reacted to this experience by not only guaranteeing the freedom of religion without explicit limitations, but also by installing a principle of the separation of state and religion. In practice, the interpretation of this principle is contested, with a more lenient Supreme Court. This chapter provides survey of current interpretations of the role of religion in Japanese constitutional law. It gives an overview of the theoretical role religion plays in the constitutional fabric and demonstrates how this role is conditioned by history and enacted in social reality. The most enduring among these efforts was arguably the drafting of Article 20 of the Japanese Constitution. Keywords:Article 20; Japanese constitutional law; postwar constitution; religion; State Shintō; supreme court