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Religion and the Atomic Age
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Religion and the Atomic Age

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Health/Psychology/Social Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 18108

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yuki Miyamoto

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Religious Studies, DePaul University, Chicago, IL 60614, USA
Interests: comparative ethics; nuclear ethics; Japan; environmental ethics
Prof. Dr. Susumu Shimazono

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Graduate School of Applied Religious Studies, Sophia University, Tokyo 102-8554, Japan
Interests: religious history of modern Japan; death and life studies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Reflecting a complex and discursive discourse, the editors eschew defining what we consider “religion” as well as the dichotomies of the secular/religious or religion/not-religion as a working concept. Instead, this project attempts to illuminate “religion” by examining how “religion” functions and interacts with various actants in our individual and collective lives. To magnify such functions and interactions more effectively, we think it useful to employ a context representing another mighty agent in modern times: atomic power. In this age of atomic power, the events to consider include the discovery of radium by Mary Curie; the Manhattan Project; the dropping of atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki; over 2000 nuclear tests around the world; nuclear accidents in Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima; environmental destruction and ailments from radiation exposure in the vicinities of uranium mining, nuclear facilities, laboratories, weapon production factories, and nuclear waste sites. These events have created fictive and nonfictive narratives—from sufferers’ testimonies to a genre of science fiction in various art forms, such as documentation, live-action TV shows and movies, drawings, paintings, podcasts, and theater plays, while raising questions of gender and race/ethnic categories. The atomic age has also produced altars and congregating sites in the form of monuments and museums and rituals of commemoration.

Not excluding disciplines that have been conventionally viewed in the purview of religious studies, such as theology, philosophy of religion, religious ethics, and so on, we also intend to invite disciplinary and methodologically diverse investigation that will enable us to view religion in light of the atomic age, which will offer new insights into the definition of religion, and in turn, the atomic age will be better understood through various approaches of religious studies.

We invite an abstract, due on May 31, 2021. The full paper will be in English (or translated into English) with the word range of 5000 to 8000, due on August 31, 2021. Further questions should be sent to Dr. Yuki Miyamoto at [email protected].

Dr. Yuki Miyamoto
Prof. Dr. Susumu Shimazono
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • religion
  • worldview/s
  • the atomic age
  • radiation exposure
  • uranium mining
  • nuclear tests
  • nuclear waste
  • environmental contamination
  • community

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1971 KiB  
Article
Buddhism and Cultural Heritage in the Memorialization of the Hiroshima Bombing: The Art and Activism of Hirayama Ikuo
by Paride Stortini
Religions 2022, 13(2), 146; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rel13020146 - 05 Feb 2022
Viewed by 2125
Abstract
Debates on the memorialization of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima have played an essential role in the construction of postwar Japanese identity, public memory, and historical consciousness. Religion, often conceived beyond traditional terms through concepts such as “spirituality” and “heritage”, was part of [...] Read more.
Debates on the memorialization of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima have played an essential role in the construction of postwar Japanese identity, public memory, and historical consciousness. Religion, often conceived beyond traditional terms through concepts such as “spirituality” and “heritage”, was part of this process. This article examines the role of Buddhism in the autobiographical and visual narratives of the atomic bomb survivor Hirayama Ikuo, who expressed his personal trauma through art, turning it into a call for peace and for the preservation of the cultural heritage of the Silk Road, associated with the spread of Buddhism. Using recent critical approaches to heritage studies, I will show how the heritagization of Buddhism in Hirayama’s work does not preclude the sacralization of aspects of Silk Road heritage. Placing Hirayama’s approach to the nuclear bombing in the context of postwar discourses on Japan as a peaceful “nation of culture”, I will also problematize his view of Buddhism and the Silk Road by showing how similar views were used in support of imperialism in the prewar period. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and the Atomic Age)
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10 pages, 215 KiB  
Article
Visualizing Faith and Futility in the Nuclear Apocalypse
by Alison Fields
Religions 2022, 13(2), 142; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rel13020142 - 03 Feb 2022
Viewed by 1218
Abstract
This paper explores the intersection of personal responsibility, futility, and faith in visual representations of nuclear apocalypse. In two films produced during the late Cold War, Testament (1983) and When the Wind Blows (1986), the protagonists attempt to follow public guidance, maintain daily [...] Read more.
This paper explores the intersection of personal responsibility, futility, and faith in visual representations of nuclear apocalypse. In two films produced during the late Cold War, Testament (1983) and When the Wind Blows (1986), the protagonists attempt to follow public guidance, maintain daily routines as their health and communities break down, and make muddled connections to religious faith. In Testament, a mother is left to care for her children in suburban California for months after an unexplained nuclear attack isolates and contaminates the town. In When the Wind Blows, a retired couple living in the British countryside diligently follow government instructions to “protect and survive”, while quickly succumbing to radiation poisoning. In a contrasting post-Cold War visual representation, the speculative artwork of the artists Erich Berger and Mari Keto imagine the storage of nuclear waste as a personal responsibility. In OpenCare (2016), waste is encased in steel pellets mounted on a bronze disc, and a series of artifacts and instructions assist in determining continued toxicity. While Testament and When the Wind Blows project the futility of personal responsibility and faith in nuclear survival, Berger and Keto’s system envisions a deep nuclear future requiring continued personal management and care. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and the Atomic Age)
16 pages, 307 KiB  
Article
Healing the Collective Grief: A Story of a Marshallese Pastor from Okinawa
by Ikuko Takagi Matsumoto
Religions 2022, 13(2), 90; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rel13020090 - 18 Jan 2022
Viewed by 1641
Abstract
World War II and the Cold War never ended in the Marshall Islands. A seamless continuum of colonialism, wars and nuclear testing destroyed their ancestral islands, traditions, as well as the physical and spiritual wellbeing of the people; it caused them profound personal [...] Read more.
World War II and the Cold War never ended in the Marshall Islands. A seamless continuum of colonialism, wars and nuclear testing destroyed their ancestral islands, traditions, as well as the physical and spiritual wellbeing of the people; it caused them profound personal and collective grief. This article considers the grieving of the Marshallese people, through the lens of a life story of a migrant to the Marshall Islands from Okinawa, Chutaro Gushi (1911–1977). The examination uses the concepts provided by grief studies, such as personal grief and collective grief, and applies the theoretical and conceptual framework presented by the social constructionists, such as meaning making, social validation, and moral injury, to frame the understanding of their grieving, coping and healing processes. The life story of pastor Chutaro revealed an intricate reflexive interface between his personal grief and collective grief in the Marshall Islands. His personal grieving and healing process was also closely linked with the healing of the collective grief that was also an element of his personal grief. In this process, Christian churches played crucial roles to bridge the two levels of grief. They facilitated the transformation of Chutaro’s profound personal grief and moral injury into a powerful public mission to give voices to the victims of the nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and the Atomic Age)
11 pages, 265 KiB  
Article
Atomic Metaphors, Victims, and the Contestations of Nuclear Discourse
by Rachel DiNitto
Religions 2021, 12(11), 962; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rel12110962 - 03 Nov 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2992
Abstract
Atomic metaphors permeated daily life as the world reacted to the atomic bombings of Japan and the nuclear threat of the Cold War. These metaphors reveal a widespread sense of ownership of atomic narratives and public conceptions of victimhood that are often divorced [...] Read more.
Atomic metaphors permeated daily life as the world reacted to the atomic bombings of Japan and the nuclear threat of the Cold War. These metaphors reveal a widespread sense of ownership of atomic narratives and public conceptions of victimhood that are often divorced from actual nuclear victims. Japan faced the reality of the nuclear again in 2011 when three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant exploded, spreading toxic radiation far and wide. Rather than turn to religion to make sense of the traumatic destruction and existential threat of this invisible force, the Japanese have processed the catastrophe through a secular discussion of victimhood. In the decade since the Fukushima accident, the discourse about victims in Japan has narrowed to emphasize the authority of the tōjisha—victims with direct experience of the disaster—to tell their story. The debate over narrative ownership has challenged the literary community, and post-disaster Japanese literature is an important site of imaginative exploration of this victimhood. Using the theories of Jean-Luc Nancy and Michael Rothberg, this article examines collective memory and the catastrophic equivalence of Hiroshima and Fukushima, as well as the Japanese terminology for victims, in order to provide insight into the struggles for ownership of atomic narratives. Rather than proposing solutions, the article interrogates the ongoing literary controversy over the victim/non-victim divide. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and the Atomic Age)
14 pages, 3435 KiB  
Article
Urakami Memory and the Two Popes: The Disrupting of an Abstracted Nuclear Discourse
by Gwyn McClelland
Religions 2021, 12(11), 950; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rel12110950 - 01 Nov 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1611
Abstract
Since 1945, official Catholic discourse around nuclear weapons has condemned their existence on the one hand and supported them as deterrents on the other. This paper argues the largely abstracted discourse on nuclear weapons within the World Church has been disrupted by voices [...] Read more.
Since 1945, official Catholic discourse around nuclear weapons has condemned their existence on the one hand and supported them as deterrents on the other. This paper argues the largely abstracted discourse on nuclear weapons within the World Church has been disrupted by voices of Urakami in Nagasaki since at least 1981, as the Vatican has re-considered both memory and Catholic treatments of the bombing of this city since the end of World War II. On 9 August 1945, a plutonium A-bomb, nicknamed ‘Fat Man’, was detonated by the United States over the northern suburb of Nagasaki known as Urakami. Approximately 8500 Catholics were killed by the deployment of the bomb in this place that was once known as the Rome of the East. Many years on, two popes visited Nagasaki, the first in 1981 and the second in 2019. Throughout the period from John Paul II’s initial visit to Pope Francis’s visit in 2019, the Catholic Church’s official stance on nuclear weapons evolved significantly. Pope John Paul II’s contribution to the involvement in peace discourses of Catholics who had suffered the bombing attack in Nagasaki has been noted by scholars previously, but we should not assume influence in 1981 was unidirectional. Drawing upon interviews conducted in the Catholic community in Nagasaki between 2014 and 2019, and by reference to the two papal visits, this article re-evaluates the ongoing potentialities and concomitant weaknesses of religious discourse. Such discourses continue to exert an influence on international relations in the enduring atomic age. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and the Atomic Age)
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11 pages, 250 KiB  
Article
Hans Jonas, Günther Anders, and the Atomic Priesthood: An Exploration into Ethics, Religion and Technology in the Nuclear Age
by Sebastian Musch
Religions 2021, 12(9), 741; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rel12090741 - 09 Sep 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3785
Abstract
This article investigates the ethical implications of the notion of an Atomic Priesthood, an artificially constructed religion built around the preservation of knowledge related to nuclear-waste storage by using the work of Hans Jonas (1903–1993) and Günther Anders (1902–1992). Building on Jonas’ The [...] Read more.
This article investigates the ethical implications of the notion of an Atomic Priesthood, an artificially constructed religion built around the preservation of knowledge related to nuclear-waste storage by using the work of Hans Jonas (1903–1993) and Günther Anders (1902–1992). Building on Jonas’ The Imperative of Responsibility from 1979 and Anders’ The Outdatedness of Human Beings from 1956, this article participates in the debate regarding the ethics of the post-closure marking of nuclear-waste storage sites. Assuming that we have a moral obligation toward future generations, as Jonas argued, even after the nuclear-waste storages have been filled and closed, there remains a need to communicate the danger of these sites to future civilizations to whom our languages and other semiotic systems are incomprehensible. Discussing the hypothetical concept of the Atomic Priesthood, an artificial religion whose central purpose would be to make it taboo to approach certain “impure” sites where our civilization had buried nuclear waste, this article argues that due to the unsolved ethical stakes, technological solutions are unequipped to deal with the long-term ramifications of nuclear power. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and the Atomic Age)
11 pages, 681 KiB  
Article
Faith, Fallout, and the Future: Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction in the Early Postwar Era
by Michael Scheibach
Religions 2021, 12(7), 520; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rel12070520 - 10 Jul 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3232
Abstract
In the early postwar era, from 1945 to 1960, Americans confronted a dilemma that had never been faced before. In the new atomic age, which opened with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945, they now had to grapple [...] Read more.
In the early postwar era, from 1945 to 1960, Americans confronted a dilemma that had never been faced before. In the new atomic age, which opened with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945, they now had to grapple with maintaining their faith in a peaceful and prosperous future while also controlling their fear of an apocalyptic future resulting from an atomic war. Americans’ subsequent search for reassurance translated into a dramatic increase in church membership and the rise of the evangelical movement. Yet, their fear of an atomic war with the Soviet Union and possible nuclear apocalypse did not abate. This article discusses how six post-apocalyptic science fiction novels dealt with this dilemma and presented their visions of the future; more important, it argues that these novels not only reflect the views of many Americans in the early Cold War era, but also provide relevant insights into the role of religion during these complex and controversial years to reframe the belief that an apocalypse was inevitable. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Religion and the Atomic Age)
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