Beyond the Dark Valley: Reinterpreting Christian Reactions to the 1939 Religious Organizations Law

Abstract

Widely regarded as a government instrument for the suppression of religious groups, the 1939/1940 Religious Organizations Law has so far been denied a nuanced treatment in historical literature.The complex nature of the law and its consequences can best be estimated when examining the case of the Christian churches, supposedly the foremost victims of suppression by the Japanese state, around 1940.The historical record shows that not all of the implications of the legislation were seen as adverse by the Roman Catholic Church and Protestant groups.This is especially clear if one takes into account transwar continuities at the institutional and organizational levels, although inquiring into writings on the substance of religious teaching can also be illuminating, as changes in Catholic catechisms between 1936 and 1947 demonstrate.I will suggest that the analytical framework of corporatism might be helpful in coming to terms with the Japanese state's religious policy in the 1930s and 1940s.

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