Abstract
The "Basic Act on Education" (amended in December 2006) and the "Course of Study" posted in academic year 2008 encouraged religious education in Japanese primary and secondary education to step into a new stage. This article analyzes religious education in National or State Schools, and then presents several problems to be solved. First of all, the contents of religious sentiment under discussion are to be examined in the broader perspectives of education of religious sentiment before and after World War II. The examination naturally shows that the cultivation of religious sentiment in Japanese National or State schools is hardly possible for theoretical, historical, and practical reasons. Japanese schools in fact adopt alternative education for the education of religious sentiment. This alternative education has much to do with religion in two points but goes beyond religious education. Finally, lectures on religion in social studies are discussed. The issue of lectures on religion is so closely connected with developing the sense of values in life that more intensive research on the relationship is to be expected.
