Christian Worship at Universities in Postwar Japan

The purpose of this paper is to clarify some aspects of the conflict between religiosity and secularity in postwar Japan through a discussion of worship at Christian universities. From the postwar period through the university conflict, worship was one of the key subjects for the expanding Christian universities. As schools expanded, the number of students who were not Christian or pro-Christianity, and were thus less interested in Christianity, naturally increased due to the ratio of Christians to the population in Japan. Schools then began to consider how to conduct worship, the fundamental Christian ritual or educational program, as a challenge and the students’ perception of worship also changed. This became a major issue in university conflicts, transforming the religiosity of Christian universities.