台灣宗教自治在解嚴後有大規模的進展,宗教事件也呈現與戰後初期不同的特質,宗教團體法草案的研議更是台灣宗教法制的里程碑。筆者將嘗試從憲法角度來討論台灣宗教自治的進程與前景。本文的研究途徑採取法律研究途徑,研究方法則採用比較研究法與文獻分析法。藉由與日本宗教相關法制的比較,能釐清台灣近十年來宗教法制改革的背景與重點。本文的研究發現在於指出台灣與日本政教分離的過程均受到西方宗教自由思想的深刻影響,並且都在二十世紀才大幅發展;日本宗教法制較台灣完備,台灣相較之下不論法律層次的規定或相關解釋都嫌不足;台灣宗教事件與日本相比絕少與政治與宗教思想界限有關係。本文對《宗教法人法》的訂定持肯定態度,並有若干修正建議。
Religious self-government in Taiwan has great progress after the Martial Law has been abolished, and religious events reveal different characteristics. I discuss the progress and prospect of religious self-government in Taiwan from the constitutional prospective. This paper has adopted legal approach, document analysis and comparative method. Compared to relative laws of Japan, we can figure out the background and key points of Taiwan's recent reforms. This paper argues that Taiwan and Japan have both affected by the thought of religious freedom from the West. Japan has better religious laws than Taiwan. In Taiwan, there are few cases about the religious thought itself. This paper has positive attitude to enact a new religious law and has some suggestions to refine it.