德國法學中有一個法領域，其內涵為國家對人民宗教事務的所有法規範，傳統以來被稱為「國家教會法」。在該領域發展初期，主要涉及的是國家和基督教會間的關係；如今則涵蓋了國家與人民及所有宗教團體間的法律關係。以此為論據，有學者主張「國家教會法」的名稱己不足以適當地描述該法領域，而應該以「宗教（憲）法」取代之。持相反意見的學者則強調原用語在功能上適足以表彰該法領域的傳統西望核心，而認為更改名稱為不必要之舉。

In Germany there is a special law field since long, which is traditionally designated as “state church law”, which handled with the relationships between the states and the Christian Churches during its first period. Nowadays its subjects include all the state norms about the religious groups and the individual freedom of religion. Due to this the old title is criticized by some people, who want to replace it by a new one “religious constitution / law”. Some other insist on the old one and regard the change as unnecessary with the argument, that the old title is appropriate for the historical background of this law field.