Faking Liberties

Religious Freedom in American-Occupied Japan

Jolyon Baraka Thomas

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780226618821, 9780226618791
• eBook ISBN: 9780226618968
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Japanese History

Religious freedom is a founding tenet of the United States, and it has frequently been used to justify policies towards other nations. Such was the case in 1945 when Americans occupied Japan following World War II. Though the Japanese constitution had guaranteed freedom of religion since 1889, the United States declared that protection faulty, and when the occupation ended in 1952, they claimed to have successfully replaced it with "real" religious freedom.

Through a fresh analysis of pre-war Japanese law, Jolyon Baraka Thomas demonstrates that the occupiers' triumphant narrative obscured salient Japanese political debates about religious freedom. Indeed, Thomas reveals that American occupiers also vehemently disagreed about the topic. By reconstructing these vibrant debates, Faking Liberties unsettles any notion of American authorship and imposition of religious freedom. Instead, Thomas shows that, during the Occupation, a dialogue about freedom of religion ensued that constructed a new global set of political norms that continue to form policies today.

INDEX

Page numbers in italics refer to figures.

Abe Shinzō, 240

Abe Yoshiya, 238, 241–42, 291n33

Acheson, Dean, 145

Afghanistan, 263

African Americans, 31, 99–100, 172, 286n12, 300n15

Agrama, Hussein Ali, 27

Allied Occupation of Japan: American advisors to, 145, 160, 171–72, 189, 207; Christianity and, 143–44, 148, 151, 167–72, 174–80, 185–86, 189, 200, 201, 213, 216, 219, 224–25, 299n93, 301nn45–46; disagreement over priorities of, 143; human rights and, 4, 8, 11, 143–44, 146, 172, 194, 196–200, 205–6, 208, 212, 215–16, 219–22, 226, 230, 257, 259; Japanese advisors to, 146, 156, 172, 209, 212; land reforms under, 171, 175, 185, 191–92, 232; legacies of, xi, 229, 257, 259; missionary activity under, 167–69, 171–72, 175, 177–79, 185, 201, 224; as model for democratization, xi, 22, 143, 169, 266; objectives of, xi, 151, 168, 172–77, 181–82, 199, 201, 246, 295n19; planning for, 10, 143, 148, 150, 200, 227; policy double standard in, 6, 34, 240; reforms of, 6, 19, 22, 136–37, 151, 154, 158, 168, 171, 174–75, 177, 183–85, 191–92, 198, 213, 217, 224–25, 228, 232, 258; religions policy of, 4, 6, 10, 19, 34, 130, 144–45, 147–48, 150–51, 156, 161, 163–64, 167–68, 171–90, 192–93, 197, 199–201, 203–5, 207, 210, 212, 215–16, 229, 246, 295n18; religious freedom under, x–xi, 4, 6, 8, 11, 21, 79, 101, 130, 138, 143–46, 148–54, 164–65, 167–84, 188–91, 193–219, 221, 223, 225–26, 228–30, 232–33, 247, 259

Amaterasu, 24, 4...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• CONTENTS
• Prologue: The Drums of War
• Conventions
• Introduction: The Universal Particularity of Religious Freedom
• A PREOCCUPATION WITH RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
• THE OCCUPATION OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES
• Conclusion: The Bellicose Pacifism of Religious Freedom
• Epilogue: Songs of Freedom
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Notes
• References
• Index
• Figures