The Words of the Randolph Family

White House Rally Called by Women to Protest Religious Persecution in Japan

Julie Randolph
March 9, 2011
WFWP

The Women's Federation for World Peace (WFWP) has called for a rally on the morning of March 22, 2011 in Washington, D.C., to protest religious kidnapping and forced conversion of Unificationists in Japan, according to Rev. Angelika Selle, WFWP President. The keynote speaker at the rally in Lafayette Park in front of the White House will be the Reverend In Jin Moon, National Pastor of Lovin' Life Ministries and CEO of Manhattan Center Studios. The rally will call attention to the neglected human rights of women and men who have been subjected to religious kidnapping in Japan.

"In the pernicious phenomenon of religious kidnapping, women and men are forcibly abducted and confined against their will for weeks, months or years, and subjected to nonstop, sometimes violent, harassment in an attempt to de-convert them from their freely chosen faith," Rev. Selle has written in a letter of invitation to concerned women. She also stated: "Women leaders, kidnapping survivors, mothers, daughters, families, politicians, religious leaders, and human-rights activists will assemble at the White House under the banner of 'Stop Religious Kidnapping in Japan,' "

Rev. Selle has told Familyfed.org that the majority of kidnapping victims in Japan are women, which is the reason for staging the demonstration during Women's History month.

She also has written that "thousands of Unification Church members, Jehovah's Witnesses, and other believers have suffered forced conversions in Japan during the last four decades. In many cases, women have been targeted for kidnapping, confinement and brutal treatment, not only to break their faith, but to force them to renounce their marriages to members of ethnic groups or nationalities considered undesirable by their relatives. Yet, the Japanese government has failed in its responsibility to punish the perpetrators, and police have turned a blind eye, using the excuse that religious beliefs are a 'family matter' rather than a fundamental right."

Rev. Selle, a longtime resident of Bowie, Maryland, will speak to press at a pre-rally event at the Bowie Public Library at 10:30 a.m., March 15, 2011. She will be joined at that press conference by Mrs. Diane Abendroth of Bowie, Mrs. Nanae Goto of Washington, D.C., Mr. Luke Higuchi, President of Survivors Against Forced Exit (SAFE) and Rev. Jane Wells, of Northern Virginia.

Organizers of both events say that the abusive phenomenon, sometimes referred to as "deprogramming," is a bygone chapter in U.S. history due to successful prosecution of the men who kidnapped members of minority religions decades ago. However, there are hundreds of American survivors of religious kidnapping, and some of these will speak along with Japanese women who went through similar abuse in Japan in recent years.

"The rally will be an opportunity to hear directly from women who are international victims of religious kidnapping and torture, and what they experienced in their weeks, months, and sometimes years of confinement," Rev. Selle tells Familyfed.org. According to the International Coalition for Religious Freedom, a nonprofit organization that specializes in this issue, more than 4,300 followers of the Unification Church have been targeted for religious kidnapping.

A film documentary on the problem of kidnapping and forced conversion in Japan will be previewed by reporters at the National Press Club after the rally.

The rally has been called by the Women's Federation for World Peace, an organization of women working to establish a culture of heart in the family, community, nation, and world in order to achieve genuine and sustainable peace under God. The assembly also is sponsored by the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP), the American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC), and the Universal Peace Federation USA.

Download the PDF Flyer for this Event 

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