Christian Wedding Ceremonies: "Nonreligiousness" in Contemporary Japan

Abstract

Christian wedding ceremonies have, since the mid-1990s, displaced the Shinto rite and continue to remain Japan’s wedding ceremony of choice. In apparent contrast, the vast majority of Japanese individuals claim to be "nonreligious" or mushūkyō. Using the Christian wedding ceremonies of contemporary Japan as a context, this article explores the way in which claims of "non-religious-ness" are used to both reject and affirm religious behaviors. Most typically, nonreligious attitudes reject religious positions perceived as abnormal, foreign, unusually intense, deviant, or unhealthy while simultaneously affirming the importance of religion to affective acts of belief. Furthermore, nonreligious individuals tend to rely heavily on religious professionals and to vicariously entrust specialized acts of prayer and ritual to religious authorities when desirable and appropriate.