Although there was a heated theory war called State Shinto Shinto Office, Saishin Dispute (国家神道神道事務局 祭神論争) in the modern period, the government finally recognized that it was impossible to form a theory system/framework which was common to Shinto and that it was impossible to control the public directly based on a theory of Fukko shinto (returning to the ancient Shinto) and therefore, religious liberty was reluctantly allowed in the Constitution of the Empire of Japan.
近代には国家神道神道事務局祭神論争という熾烈な教理闘争もあったが、結局は政府も神道に共通する教義体系の創造の不可能性と、近代国家が復古神道的な教説によって直接に民衆を統制することの不可能性を認識して、大日本帝国憲法でも信教の自由を認めせざるを得なかった。