Symposium exposes how the brains behind the campaign of abductions and faith-breaking systematically exploited the parental bond to sons and daughters
Tokyo, 27th May 2024 – Published as an article in the Japanese newspaper Sekai Nippo. Republished with permission. Translated from Japanese. Original article
Abduction and confinement as “Exploitation of Parental Love”
Symposium in Shizuoka Reflects on Freedom of Religion
by the editorial department of the Sekai Nippo
prepared by Knut Holdhus
A symposium on religious freedom in Japan – hosted by the Shizuoka Citizens’ Association for the Protection of Basic Human Rights and Freedom of Religion – was held on May 25th, 2024, in Shizuoka City.
Pastor Haruhisa Nakagawa (中川晴久) of the Christian Church of the Lord’s Sheep (主の羊クリスチャン教会), who gave the keynote speech, criticized the so-called “exit counselors” (faith-breakers) who lead forced renunciations of faith by members of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church), stating that they “exploit parental love”.
Pastor Nakagawa, who had spoken with a mother who abducted and confined her [adult] child for forced de-conversion [deprogramming], pointed out, “The exit counselor (faith-breaker) pastor told her that her parenting was bad and that she didn’t love her child enough. This triggered the parent to commit the confinement [forcible detention], while the exit counselor himself stayed out of sight.”
In the panel discussion held after the lecture, they also touched on the dissolution order request issued by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. It was argued that “by advancing this, they are trying to bury and conceal the abduction and confinement issue. On the contrary, we need to bring this issue to light.”
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Haruhisa Nakagawa is in addition to being pastor of the Christian Church of the Lord’s Sheep (主の羊クリスチャン教会) in Yokohama, Japan, also Executive Secretary of Tokyo Christian Theological Institute, President of Japan Christian Theological Institute, and SALTY Editorial Committee Member. SALTY is the Japanese Christian opinion website salty-japan.net. He conducted an undercover investigation of the Unification Church in 2012. Bitter Winter, the online magazine for human rights and religious freedom, has posted several pieces Nakagawa has written.
The Japanese monthly opinion magazine Seiron (正論) published in its December 2023 issue a feature article on the outrageous persecution of the Family Federation (formerly the Unification Church) in Japan. There Nakagawa stated that it is hard to understand that the government does not see that they may be acting illegally in basing their dissolution request on civil cases largely masterminded by hostile lawyers who support methods like kidnapping, forcible detention, and testifying under duress.
In the same report, Nakagawa describes how some parents of adult members of the Unification Church were involved in the forced de-conversion of their sons or daughters. The parents were thoroughly instructed by faith-breakers for a period of up to half a year, learning how to carry out the kidnapping, forcible detention, and faith-breaking. Haruhisa Nakagawa says, “Parents claim they tried to compel their abducted children to leave the church out of love. However, it is important to note that these ‘children’ were adults.”
The Christian leader also mentioned in the Seiron report how the forced de-conversion “damages the parent-child relationship and leaves a big scar. Even if the adult believers say they are happy to have left the group, they may still be tormented by the memory of the moment of abduction and confinement, and a rift between parent and child may eventually develop, and the wound may never heal.”
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