The Relationship between State and Religion in Japan

The European Union itself does not aim at changing and levelling down the national laws on Church and State. According to the Eleventh Declaration in the final communique of Amsterdam Contract the European Union respects and does not prejudice the status which is given to churches and religious communities by the national systems of laws. Nevertheless, progressing integration and harmonization do not disregard to the relationship between states and Churches. But this is not the only reason for a change. There are also anti-religious attitudes within the population which do not have any longer a strong counterpart because of a wide-spreading indifference and apathy towards religious subjects. It cannot be expected that people who do not see the need for religious liberties in their own lives estimate and have the will to protect these liberties. Thus, the aforementioned situation has institutional and individual consequences. At first, the relationship between states and religious organizations is going to be redefined: On the one hand we do remark a gradual denationalization of State Churches; on the other hand there is a growing will to cooperate within regimes of separation. Secondly, the content and bounds of religious freedom are thought over. The religious liberties seem to get a lower weight than before in cases where they conflict with basic rights of third persons or with public interest. This development in Europe may be a reason to examine which is the relationship between the state and the religious corporations in a modem, far away community with different historical, cultural and religious background. Let us have a look at Japan from which a proverb says that it was a country of „eight millions of Gods“ (yaoyorozu no kamigami).