As a result, there are some theories which suspect the conventional common theory; for example, a theory that the dispute on the worship or the exclusion of Buddha was not a conflict on the acceptance or rejection of Buddhism, but a difference on whether or not to define Buddhism as an official 'national religious service', and another that the difference of the opinion against Buddhism was only a superficial problem and it was actually a power struggle between the Soga clan and the Mononobe clan in the Imperial Court.
結局のところ、崇仏・廃仏論争は仏教そのものの受容・拒否を争ったというよりは、仏教を公的な「国家祭祀」とするかどうかの意見の相違であったとする説や、仏教に対する意見の相違は表面的な問題に過ぎず、本質は朝廷内における蘇我氏と物部氏の勢力争いであったとする説も出ており、従来の通説に疑問が投げかけられている。