{"id":56006,"date":"2024-02-03T23:58:06","date_gmt":"2024-02-03T23:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/religious-freedom-requires-constant-protection-speakers-tell-upf-washington-times-foundation-event-2\/"},"modified":"2024-02-03T23:58:06","modified_gmt":"2024-02-03T23:58:06","slug":"religious-freedom-requires-constant-protection-speakers-tell-upf-washington-times-foundation-event-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/religious-freedom-requires-constant-protection-speakers-tell-upf-washington-times-foundation-event-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Religious Freedom Requires Constant Protection – Speakers Tell UPF, Washington Times Foundation Event"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Washington, DC, Feb. 03, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/p>\n

Religious Freedom Requires Constant Protection, <\/b>
Speakers Tell UPF, Washington Times Foundation Event<\/b><\/p>\n

If a nation disrespects religious freedom, \u201call other rights<\/i><\/b>
\u00a0surely will be limited, oppressed or violated\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Constant and vigorous protection of religious freedom is essential to world peace and democracy, an array of human rights experts and religious freedom leaders told the audience at a recent event hosted by the Universal Peace Federation (UPF)<\/b> and The Washington Times Foundation<\/b>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe core value of being able to approach God without interference really underlies all freedom,\u201d said former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich<\/b> during the Jan. 31 luncheon organized by UPF and the Times Foundation, which was part of the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit 2024. <\/b>\u201cA government which can block you from approaching God can block you from anything,\u201d Mr. Gingrich said.<\/p>\n

The two-day IRF Summit, held in Washington, DC and led by co-chairs Ambassador Sam Brownback<\/b> and Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett<\/b>, shared testimonies and details about religious persecution from around the world, including China\u2019s attacks on Uyghur Muslims, Nigerian Muslim herdsmen killing Christians, Hindu and Muslim battles in India, and the recent massacre in Israel.<\/p>\n

The UPF and Times Foundation luncheon further highlighted the unjust efforts of the Japanese government to dissolve \u2014 and confiscate assets from \u2014 the Family Federation of World Peace and Unification in Japan. (The dissolution case is currently before a judge in Tokyo District Court.)<\/p>\n

The pretext for attacking the Family Federation in Japan was the July 2022 assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; the shooter reportedly said he felt \u201chate\u201d and a \u201cgrudge\u201d toward the church because his mother, a member, made large donations to it some 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

Religious freedom serves communities as well as individuals, said Prof. Cole Durham Jr.<\/b>, director of the Brigham Young University’s International Center for Law and Religious Studies. So, if there is wrongful conduct by an individual believer (or a believer\u2019s relative), that individual should be sanctioned, \u201cbut the entire religious community should not be shut down or crippled,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Several speakers said the true reason the Family Federation in Japan is being targeted is because it publicly opposes communism, and the political opposition wants it neutralized.<\/p>\n

The Japanese Communist Party \u201chas alleged that the church is engaged in corruption and is a threat to society,\u201d former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo<\/b> said in a video shown at the luncheon. \u201dNothing could be further from the truth. The church, founded by Reverend Moon, has long stood against communism and has always championed stronger ties between Japan, Korea, and the United States. If there is anything the Unification Church undermines, it is communism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should see the [Japanese Communist Party\u2019s] attack for what it is: an attempt to undermine and weaken the vital U.S.-Japan alliance,\u201d Mr. Pompeo added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not OK to engage in collective punishment\u201d or use government and media power to marginalize a faith community and make it \u201can easy picking for state abuse,\u201d Dr. Lantos Swett said in a panel discussion led by Washington Times<\/i> Opinion Editor Charles Hurt.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cJapan is at the crossroads,\u201d said Dr. Jan Figel<\/b>, a renowned religious freedom advocate and member of the IRF Summit Global Leadership Council. \u201cReligious freedom is a litmus test of all human rights,\u201d he said, recalling how half his life was spent under the anti-religious communist regime in the former Czechoslovakia. If religious freedom is disrespected in a nation, \u201cthen all other rights surely will be limited, oppressed or violated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cReligious freedom means we are friends [of every faith],\u201d and as friends, governments can help other governments protect it, said Ambassador Suzan Johnson Cook,<\/b> former Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom at the US State Department.<\/p>\n

Church lawyer Tatsu Nakayama<\/b> said his research showed that the Japan Communist Party and its activist lawyers began their Family Federation Japan \u201cdissolution campaign\u201d in 1987 and are eager now to \u201cget it done.\u201d After Abe\u2019s assassination, he said, the leftist lawyers aggressively worked to defame the Family Federation in Japan\u2019s mass media. They especially promoted testimonies of church apostates (former members who are actively hostile to the former faith). This includes people who, with help from these same leftist lawyers, partnered with professional deprogrammers (faith breakers) who stimulated fear about the faith and convinced them to have their relatives kidnapped, illegally confined and harassed, coerced to recant their beliefs, and then forced\u2014on pain of more confinement\u2014to sue the Family Federation in Japan for damages.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to dissolve a religious corporation [church], criminal law must be broken,\u201d said Mr. Nakayama, whose arguments have been reprinted at length in Bitter Winter<\/i><\/a>,<\/i> the magazine of Center for Studies on New Religions. However, \u201cin the present case of the Family Federation, since its foundation about 60 years ago, no criminal law has been broken\u2014which means there is no legal reason to dissolve the Family Federation,\u201d Mr. Nakayama said in a video.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Family Federation is dissolved, it will not only lose its tax exemption, it will lose its places of worship, assets, everything. It will be a death sentence,\u201d Bitter Winter<\/i> Editor in Chief Dr. Massimo Introvigne<\/b> told the UPF and Times Foundation panel discussion.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the Japanese laws passed to sequester the Family Federation will impact the freedom of all religions in Japan to collect donations and pass their faith to their children, he said, adding that \u201cthe Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses are already under attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UPF and Times Foundation program included personal testimonies on Japan\u2019s oppression and abuse. Rev. Luke Higuchi,<\/b> a US Family Federation member who was kidnapped by his family in Japan and sent to a mental hospital to break his faith, recalled the deprogrammers telling him, \u201cUnless you give up your faith, you will never be released.\u201d He eventually escaped and reconciled with his family, but his repentant father admitted he \u201chad paid a lot of cash to the deprogrammers\u201d to harm his son.<\/p>\n

Moriko Hori,<\/b> president of the Women\u2019s Federation for World Peace International (WFWPI), an NGO that has enjoyed general consultative status at the United Nations\u2019 Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 1997, said their global projects have been impacted by the inexplicable attacks by Japanese government officials, left-wing lawyers and mass media.<\/p>\n

For instance, years ago, the Japanese Embassy in Mozambique had recommended that WFWP and Mrs. Akiko Hozan, a school director and WFWP Japan volunteer, receive an award from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo. The foreign minister honored Mrs. Hozan and the WFWP with prestigious national recognition.<\/p>\n

But in 2022, Mrs. Hozan received a call from the Japanese Embassy in Mozambique, informing her that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan had decided to revoke the Minister\u2019s Award she had received for her outstanding educational work there. This occurred after Member of Parliament Keiji Kokuta, from the Japanese Communist Party, accused the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of having given an award to \u201can organization affiliated with the Unification Church\u201d during a parliamentary budget meeting, according to an interview with Mrs. Hori and Dr. Introvigne, editor of Bitter Winter<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Thus, \u201cdue to the persecution by the Japanese government, the lawyers\u2019 groups and the newspapers, our service project was crushed,\u201d Mrs. Hori told the luncheon.<\/p>\n

Dr. Michael Jenkins, president of UPF International and The Washington Times Foundation, founded by Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon and her late husband Reverend Sun Myung Moon, stated \u201cThe protection and promotion of religious freedom is the critical responsibility of all who affirm God. UPF and The Washington Times Foundation are committed to protect, defend and advance religious liberty universally. As we join together at the IRF Summit 2024 which is the global leader in this arena, we will forge our collective commitment to fight religious persecution. Together we will roll back the tyranny of all God-denying ideologies and build a better world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UPF and Washington Times Foundation event was covered in a Jan. 31 Washington Times<\/i> article, under the headline, \u201cJapan\u2019s dispute with church a test of liberty everywhere.\u201d
Article link: https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2024\/jan\/31\/key-test-japans-clash-with-church-seen-as-pivotal-\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Media contact:<\/b><\/p>\n

Larry Moffitt
Secretary General, North America
Universal Peace Federation
3600 New York Avenue, NE
Washington, DC 20002
mobile: 202-669-0387
SanViejo@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

lmoffit@us.upf.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington, DC, Feb. 03, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Religious Freedom Requires Constant Protection, Speakers Tell UPF, Washington Times Foundation Event If a nation disrespects religious freedom, \u201call other rights\u00a0surely will be limited, oppressed or violated\u201d Constant and vigorous protection of religious freedom is essential to world peace and democracy, an array of 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