When Religious Intolerance Turns Violent

After the dissolution in Japan, believers report growing hostility and intolerance

Tokyo, 23^rd July 2026 – Published as an article in the Japanese newspaper Sekai Nippo. Republished with permission. Translated from Japanese. Original article.

Part 1 of the Series Dissolution Threatens the Human Rights of Believers

Family Violence and Life-Threatening Danger

Woman Pushed Down Stairs by Enraged Brother

by the Religious Freedom Investigative Team of the editorial department of Sekai Nippo

See part 2 of the series: Police Trust Shattered After Forced Confinement

See also Liquidation Takes Psychological Toll on Members

See also When Raising Children in Faith Turns Suspicious

See also Japan: FFWPU Case Signals Dangerous State Power

See also Today the Family Federation, Tomorrow a Temple?

See also “Even 20 Years If Needed”: Believers Vow to Endure

More than one month has passed since the dissolution of the religious corporation Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church) became final following the Supreme Court’s dismissal of its special appeal. In its decision dated 22^nd June, the Supreme Court stated that the psychological impact on the religious organization‘s believers was “necessary and unavoidable”.

But did the Court give sufficient consideration to the effects that the negative stigma attached to the organization could have on its members?

Two female believers suffered serious injuries, including fractures, after being assaulted by family members who opposed their faith. The human rights of believers are now under threat.

“I Thought I Was Going to Be Killed”

Ms. Tomoe Asamori (pseudonym), a woman in her fifties living in Tokyo who is a member of the Family Federation, became involved in an argument with her older brother over her religious beliefs at her parents’ home in late March of this year, shortly after the Tokyo High Court‘s decision initiated the liquidation process for the religious corporation.

As the argument showed no sign of ending, she decided to leave and began walking downstairs from the second floor. At that moment, her brother shoved her from behind.

Ms. Asamori joined the religious organization in her twenties. In the past, she had twice been subjected to abduction and confinement by her parents and relatives in attempts to force her to abandon her faith.

Her father has since passed away, and her mother now lives in a nursing facility because of dementia. Her older brother has been living alone in the family home for the past several years.

At the time she was confined years earlier, her brother had not taken as active a role in the coercive faith-breaking efforts as their parents had. However, he helped by driving the car and attended study sessions organized by deprogrammers (faith-breakers) [See editor’s note below] – specialists who seek to persuade members to leave religious groups.

“You Still Haven’t Quit?”

In late March, after visiting the family grave together with her younger sister, Ms. Asamori stopped by her parents’ home.

Their mother had undergone surgery in early March while living in the care facility, but Ms. Asamori had been unable to reach her brother. Even when she went directly to the house, he appeared to pretend that no one was home.

Several years earlier, the keyhole of the front door had apparently been sealed with some kind of adhesive, making the spare key Ms. Asamori possessed unusable.

Left with no alternative, she entered through the back veranda, went upstairs where her brother was, and opened the door to his room. Recalling what happened, Ms. Asamori said:

“My brother came stomping over and stood right in front of me. ‘You’re still in the church?’ he shouted. ‘I thought you’d quit.’ Although he’d never heard me say I’d left, he seemed to have convinced himself that I had. But he just kept shouting, ‘I know the truth!’ and ‘Get out!'”

She also tried to tell him about their mother’s surgery and her recovery afterward.

“But all he would say was, ‘So what? It has nothing to do with me,’ and ‘I don’t want anything more to do with this.’ He kept repeating those words.”

Wearing the hood of his jacket over his head, her brother grabbed Ms. Asamori’s right arm and tried to force her downstairs while holding onto it.

Fearing it was dangerous, she pulled her arm free and began descending the stairs on her own.

At that moment, her brother shoved her from behind. She fell, sliding down the staircase in a seated position before crashing violently into the wall beside the stairs.

Even then, his anger did not subside. After coming downstairs, he also struck Ms. Asamori’s younger sister, who had been waiting on the first floor, in the face.

Ms. Asamori struggled to her feet and intervened between them. Her brother then retreated upstairs.

Her younger sister wanted to leave the house immediately, but Ms. Asamori insisted that she had not yet offered incense before her late father’s Buddhist altar. Enduring the pain, she first prayed at the family altar before finally leaving the house.

Broken Tailbone, Bleeding Head Injury, and a Month of Pain

“I Could Have Died”

Ms. Asamori later visited a bonesetter’s clinic, where she learned that the impact of the fall had fractured her tailbone.

She had also struck her head against the wall, causing bleeding from the back of her head. Fortunately, examinations found no abnormalities of her skull or brain.

The pain was so severe that walking was difficult, and she was told it would be at least a month before she could reasonably undergo another examination. Looking back, Ms. Asamori sighed.

“If I had landed differently, I might have died or been left permanently disabled.”

She also wonders what would have happened if she had visited the house alone. Had she lost consciousness after falling down the stairs, how would her brother have reacted? Would he have called an ambulance? Or would he simply have left her there?

She does not know the answer, and the thought still fills her with fear.

Speaking about her brother, Ms. Asamori said:

“At heart, he’s a kind person, but he’s the type who forces his own worldview onto others.”

When she visited the family home, magazines, books, and photocopied articles criticizing the Unification Church were piled densely around her late father’s Buddhist altar.

Because the assailant is a family member, Ms. Asamori has not yet decided whether to file a criminal complaint over being pushed down the stairs.

However, she repeatedly emphasized:

“Just because someone opposes my faith does not give them any justification for pushing me down a staircase.”

See part 2 of the series: Police Trust Shattered After Forced Confinement

See also Liquidation Takes Psychological Toll on Members

See also When Raising Children in Faith Turns Suspicious

See also Japan: FFWPU Case Signals Dangerous State Power

See also When Children Are Taught to Suspect the Parents

See also Today the Family Federation, Tomorrow a Temple?

See also “Even 20 Years If Needed”: Believers Vow to Endure

Featured image above: Tomoe Asamori (pseudonym), a member of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, says she was pushed down a staircase by her brother. Photographed on the morning of 1^st July 2026 in Tokyo. Photo: Takahide Ishii (石井孝秀)

[Editor’s note 1: Coercive faith-breaking (“deprogramming”) 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, also 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.]

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