[Shincheonji] Illegal coercive conversion, When will it stop? 'The Bill' is urgent.

Illegal coercive conversion,

When will it stop? 'The Bill' is urgent.

Last June 11, I posted an article about Shincheonji member who is in 20's and rescued from a studio located in Gwang An Dong Su Young Gu, Busan after being kidnapped and confined. This illegal confinement was carried out by his parents. The reason was he was attending Shincheonji church. Korea guarantees freedom of religion. But, when you look at the individual, there is no freedom of religion. They are often forced to follow their parents' religion. Or, even if their parents don't have religion, if the children practice their faith which their parents don't like, parents persecute the children. This is a fact. 

For the parents suspected of being guilty due to forcing a coercive conversion having Mr. A confined, ‘100 meter restraining order’ has been imposed. Victim Mr. A due to illegal confinement asked for personal protection But this was dismissed. 

At the time of rescue, Mr. A was with officials of another church, Mr. B who proceeded a coercive conversion. But, there is no investigation going against Mr. B. This is odd. Mr. B. was involved in illegal confinement and was nearly an accomplice. Then, why Mr. B is not being investigated? 

Korea guarantees the freedom of religion under the law. But, there are many occasions when people don't follow. Even me, my parents were Buddhists. Therefore, I was often forced into Buddhism which was the religion of my parents. So, my parents persecuted me since I am Christian. They persecuted me even before I came to Shincheonji when I went to Presbyterian church. A coercive conversion program which I can't understand has been going on for many years. What is a coercive conversion program? For believing in so-called heresy, family and relatives of the believer lock up the person and force to convert his religion, mobilizing violence which is an illegal measure. But, here, we must think about who defines heresy. It must be defined according to the Bible only. 

The problem is that people regard a coercive conversion program as a family matter and think lightly in Korea.  About domestic violence and child abuse, Korea think it is a family matter. And now, there are many criminal cases in Korea. 

Uniquely, forced conversion is never done alone by the family. A coercive conversion program has its behind. The so-called coercive conversion pastors are behind. They are from so-called heretical counseling centers. Previously, A transcript of the content that the wife of a pastor of a church instigated a coercive conversion program to the parents of Shincheonji Church members was also released.

Regarding this, in 2019, a theme under the theme of 'narrow-mindedness and discrimination against rising religion movement, international issues' was held. Victim cases of coercive conversion against Shincheonji Church are 1,514 cases from 2003 to 2019 Sep. This is because there are biased negative stereotypes against heresy. And among democratic countries, Korea is the only country in which a coercive conversion program has taken place. A bill should be prepared to prevent further illegal activities.

Reference: https://bit.ly/3zyrvXC