Religious persecution grows in democratic Japan

OPINION:

It is commonly understood that many people around the world face harassment and more severe forms of persecution for their religious beliefs. Few would question that in dictatorships like China or North Korea, Christians and other religious groups face persecution.

Unfortunately, religious persecution is not limited to despotic countries that deny basic civil rights to their citizens. Even in democracies, religious minorities can find the right to follow their faith threatened.

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Last month, the International Religious Freedom Summit, an annual global gathering of religious freedom advocates for which I serve as co-chair, hosted a regional conference in Tokyo. Japan is widely considered to be one of the world’s leading democracies, but it has a troubling relationship with religious minorities.

The biggest religion in Japan is Shinto but many Japanese also practice Buddhism. Thus, when you look at a demographic breakdown of religion in the country, you’ll find percentages that add up to well over 100 percent. So-called “Western religions” account for a small percent of the Japanese population. For example, 1.9 million Christians make up approximately 1% of the nation. There are several hundred thousand Muslims in Japan and only a few thousand Jews.

Despite religious freedom being enshrined in Japan’s postwar constitution, minority religions often feel threatened and unfairly labeled as cults. This concern has been amplified since the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2022.

Mr. Abe’s assassin blamed his mother’s bankruptcy on her donations to the Unification Church, formally known in Japan as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. Although the Church, which has an estimated 100,000 active members in Japan, was never accused of any involvement in the assassination, an angry Japanese public blamed the church for the actions of the gunman. Every religious minority was suddenly considered a “cult” and in the cross hairs of the government.

Jehovah’s Witnesses claim more than 214,000 Witnesses are active in Japan. Witnesses have been targeted with systematic accusations of child abuse over the past several years. Every faith group in Japan should be alarmed because, even though new guidelines from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare have been selectively enforced against Witnesses, they are written broadly enough to eventually be applied to any religion.

Four special rapporteurs from the United Nations, including the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, issued a joint statement in April raising a number of concerns regarding publication of a “Q&A on Responses to Child Abuse Related to Religious Beliefs, etc.” The UN report found that the guidelines were written without any consultation from religious minorities. Imagine government bureaucrats writing a report regulating religious practices without talking to any of the religious groups affected and that is what happened here.

Obviously, child abuse is not limited solely to physical violence against a child and all forms of abuse must be taken seriously. Unfortunately, the Japanese government now has such a broad definition of child abuse that it is difficult to take any of it seriously.

Forcing a child to participate in religious activities? Child abuse.

Telling a child God will punish them for misbehavior or otherwise instilling fear? Child abuse.

Not allow a child to participate in birthday parties? Child abuse.

A blanket ban on entertainment deemed appropriate for a child’s age by “socially accepted norms,” on the grounds of religion? Child abuse.

The list goes on, but the special rapporteurs make a number of important points. For example, they say the government guidance is very vague and unspecific. Also, various parental actions are labeled as child abuse when they happen in a religious context, but not in a secular context. It is only considered abusive to make your child go to church and not to make your child go to a secular activity.

The rapporteurs note that since the Q&A Guidelines were released there has been more than a 600% increase in hate crimes against Witnesses. Thanks to media coverage, many Japanese citizens now associate Jehovah’s Witnesses with child abuse.

Sadly, this is not the only example of religious intolerance in Japan. The aforementioned Unification Church has had its existence as a recognized church threatened. Religious groups in Japan must register with the government and the government has sued to revoke the Unification Church’s legal status. Without a legal status any church could still operate but it would be stripped of the tax-exempt status available to all religious groups.

Only two religious groups have lost their legal status before now. One committed a terrorist attack and the leadership of the other was convicted of financial crimes. Neither the Unification Church or its leadership have been charged or convicted of any crimes. Attempting to revoke the legal status of a church sets a dangerous precedent and puts a democracy on a dangerous path.

Some of the worst state offenders of religious freedom can be found in Asia. Eleven of the 17 countries designated by the U.S. State Department as “Countries of Particular Concern” can be found on the continent. Nothing happening in Japan compares to the multiple genocides taking place against religious groups in China or the persecution in other countries, but that doesn’t excuse the slow erosion of civil liberties in a strong American ally.

It is imperative that the democracies in the region honor basic human rights such as religious freedom. Otherwise, the free world loses the moral high ground.

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Sam Brownback is a former U.S. senator and governor of Kansas. He served as the United States Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom from 2018 to 2021 and chairs the National Council for Religious Freedom. He is also a Senior Fellow at Global Christian Relief.