Religious leaders condemn forced renunciation of faith at interfaith forum, as the Christian leader criticizes the process against the Family Federation for being heavily biased and one-sided
Tokyo, 19th July 2025 – Published as an article in the Japanese newspaper Sekai Nippo. Republished with permission. Translated from Japanese. Original article.
Religious Leaders Condemn Forced Renunciation of Faith
Interfaith Harmony Forum Held in Sapporo
by the editorial department of Sekai Nippo
prepared by Knut Holdhus
The “Hokkaido Citizens’ Association for the Protection of Religious Freedom”, a group of volunteers affiliated with the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church), recently held the 3rd Interfaith and Scholars Forum in Sapporo. Around 200 people participated.
At the forum, 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) delivered the keynote address. He criticized the request from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to the Tokyo District Court for the dissolution of the Family Federation. Nakagawa criticized the process for being heavily biased in one direction. He stated that the root of the issue lies in the fact that some Christian pastors have targeted Family Federation believers and subjected them to forcible faith-breaking (de-conversion, renunciation of faith) [See editor’s note below] involving abduction and confinement. He emphasized, “The number of pastors involved in abductions, based on what I personally know, easily exceeds 200 and is close to 300.”
He appealed that, “The government’s acceptance of only the opposition’s perspective amounts to an abuse of state power.”
In the second part of the forum, a panel discussion was held featuring Reverend Kōshin Enomoto (榎本興信), a monk from the Jodo Shinshu Takada sect, and Imam Mohammad Ismael of the Hokkaido Islamic Society. Reverend Enomoto firmly stated that “forcible faith-breaking [See editor’s note below], even when committed by one’s own family members, through violence to change someone’s faith must never be tolerated.” He added, “If Jesus Christ, the Buddha, and Muhammad were here, they would shake hands with one another and say, ‘Don’t go to war!’”
Enomoto called for interfaith harmony as the path to peace.
Featured image above: Pastor Haruhisa Nakagawa (中川晴久) discussing issues with the dissolution order request issued by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) – 12th July 2025, Sapporo City. Photo: Yuasa Hajime (湯朝肇)
[Editor’s note: Coercive faith-breaking (“deprogramming”, forced renunciation of faith) in Japan refers to the practice of coercively attempting to separate individuals from their religious affiliations or beliefs, typically through intervention by family members, professional faith-breakers (deprogrammers) or organizations hostile to new religious movements (NRMs). This phenomenon often targets members of such movements, e.g. relatively large faiths like the Family Federation or Jehovah’s Witnesses, but also smaller groups like Happy Science (Kōfuku no Kagaku) and other newer religious movements.
However, Soka Gakkai, a Buddhist-based lay organization with more than 8 million Japanese members and affiliated with Nichiren Buddhism, has occasionally been subject to faith-breaking attempts.
The practice gained attention in the latter half of the 20th century, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. Parents or concerned family members often hired faith-breakers who taught them how to abduct and forcibly detain believers. Almost all such cases involved confining the individual believer and cutting him or her off from the religious community. During the confinement, the believer was subjected to intense questioning or indoctrination designed to break his or her faith. The aim was to “rescue” the person from what the family often had been tricked by faith-breakers or lawyers to regard as harmful influence from the religious organization.
Critics of forced de-conversion argue that it violates fundamental human rights, including freedom of thought, religion, and association. Reports of psychological trauma and accusations of unlawful detention have sparked debates over its ethical and legal implications. In response, some religious groups, particularly NRMs, have lobbied for greater protections against such practices.
Japanese courts have been inconsistent in addressing cases of coercive faith-breaking. While some verdicts have condemned the practice as illegal detention, others have been more lenient, citing family concerns about “mental health” or alleged “exploitation” as mitigating factors.]