Decree on Religious Societies

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Basic data
Title: 宗教 法人 令
shūkyō hōjinrei
"Decree on Religious Societies "
Type: chokurei
Number: 昭和 20 年 12 月 28 日 勅令 第 719 号
Decree No. 719 of December 28th Shōwa 20 (1945)
Expiry: Law No. 126 of April 3, Shōwa 26 (1951) [shūkyō hōjinhō]
Please note the note on the applicable legal version . Only the Japanese legal texts have legal effect, not translations into English or other languages.

The decree on religious communities ( Japanese 宗教 法人 令 , shūkyō hōjinrei ) of 1945 replaced the law on religious communities in Japan . Until its expiry on April 3, 1951, it formed the relevant, formal framework for the various religious institutions in Japan , recognized as a religious society ( 宗教 法人 , shūkyō hōjin ) and thus to become legally competent .

history

After the capitulation of Japan , which ended the Second World War , the Law on Religious Communities was passed during the occupation as implementation of the positions agreed in the Potsdam Declaration on the instructions of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) of October 4, 1945 with effect from October 28 December of the same year by the Chokurei ( 勅令 ; decree of the Tennō ) number 718 abolished.

On the same day, the decree replacing the law on religious communities was issued with Chokurei number 719 with immediate effect, the content of which had previously been negotiated with representatives of the SCAP (or its Civil Information and Education Staff Section [CI&E]) and various Japanese religious groups .

The decree limited itself in its determination of religious communities only to provide a formal, legal framework for their recognition as a legal person ( hōjin ). In contrast to the previous law on religious communities, it did not provide the government with any authority to influence religious organizations in any way.

At the request of Jinja Honchō ( 神社 本 庁 ), the umbrella organization of the Shrine Shintō , who had only recently been founded (in January 1946), an amendment to the decree of February 2, 1946, unlike the law on religious communities, also changed Shintō for the first time . Shrines recorded as potential religious societies, which, like all other religious organizations, could now acquire legal capacity . The Shrine Shinto was now, unlike before in State Shinto , a lot of private organizations like all other religions in Japan. This also corresponded to the spirit of the new constitution of Japan , which was passed shortly afterwards , which replaced the old Meiji constitution and in Article 20 paragraph 1 prohibited the granting of any special rights to religious communities and in Article 89 the state financial support of religious organizations.

The decree was finally replaced on April 3, 1951 by the Law on Religious Societies ( 宗教 法人 法 , shūkyō hōjinhō ). This is still in force today (last amendment in December 1997).

criticism

A later criticism of the decree was that it was forcibly imposed on Japan by the occupation authorities, but this is not true. In fact, none of the religious community representatives who were present at the negotiations for the decree objected to the draft decree on any point.

However, precisely because of its very liberal determination of the conditions for recognition as legal entities and the associated tax loopholes , the decree soon came under increasing public criticism: During this time, Japan experienced a boom in the so-called Shinshūkyō (i.e. new religious movements ), with numerous Entrepreneurs registered their companies as religious societies, which on the one hand harmed the state because of lost income and on the other hand the reputation of religions in Japan in general. As abusive religious societies in this sense, contemporary media reports u. a. Makoto Kyōdan , Sekai Kyūseikyō and Reiyūkai are shown. A particularly extreme example of this time is the Kōdō Chikyō (gilt 道 治 教 ), who was financially successful in the late 1940s by running their cafes, laundries and brothels as churches and declaring their customers as believers.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Creemers 1968, p. 54.
  2. ↑ a b Benjamin Dorman: “ SCAP's Scapegoat? The Authorities, New Religions, and a Postwar Taboo ( Memento of the original of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ”, In: Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 31/1: pp. 105–140 (PDF file, 296.1 kB; English) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nanzan-u.ac.jp

literature

  • Wilhelmus HM Creemers: Shrine Shinto after World War II . EJ Brill, Leiden 1968.
  • Ernst Lokowandt: On the relationship between the state and Shintô in Japan today . Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1981. ISBN 3-447-02094-6 .

Web links