The Department of Divinities had been considered superior, at least pro forma, to the daijokan (the Grand Council of State), and hence by the comparison the Ministry of Divinities may seem to have suffered a demotion given the fact that it was created as one arm of and under the daijokan, but in actuality Japan, under the principles laid out in the Imperial Edict (of 1870) for Establishment of Shinto, had embraced a theocratic form of government (saisei itchi, or "the unity of church and state") under the Emperor; consequently, the Ministry of Divinities had been created to strengthen the government's ability to participate in religious matters in order to achieve the objective of making Shinto the national religion of Japan.
形式上のみとはいえ、太政官よりも上位とされた神祇官に対して、太政官の1機関に格下げられた神祇省は一見すると地位が低下したようにも見受けられるが、実際には大教宣布の理念に基づいた天皇による祭政一致、ひいては神道の国家宗教化を目指す方針のために政府の関与を強めるためのものであった。