Faking Liberties: Religious Freedom in American-Occupied Japan (Class 200: New Studies in Religion) - Softcover

Thomas, Jolyon Baraka

Softcover

ISBN 10: 022661882X ISBN 13: 9780226618821

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2019

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author:

Jolyon Baraka Thomas is an assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 022661882X
• ISBN 13: 9780226618821
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 370