"It’s because of 'Shincheonji Church' Vs. 'It's Parents Who Kidnap and Confine their Children'. Who's to blame?" (Cheonji Daily, 5th June 2020)
Protesters chant “I’ve lost my child to Shincheonji Church”, yet they are the ones who abduct and confine their own children.
The police has not reported a single missing persons case, only protests year-on-year
“One mother kidnapped and imprisoned her daughter for the second time on the day of her father's funeral”
“Parents deny everything and protest to drag children back onto the programme”
“My body and heart ache. I don’t want to see my parents again”
[Cheonji Ilbo = Reporter Kang Soo-kyung] Protesters have been crying out for the "overthrow of Shincheonji Church" and the breakdown in society that they allege Shincheonji Church causes. They have been protesting in front of Shincheonji Church and its affiliated buildings and education centres nationwide chanting “Shincheonji Church has taken away our children.”
Public criticism of Shincheonji Church that took place after the 31st confirmed case on February 18th has been voiced on-air and passed off as 'just' and 'truthful'.
Anyone who hears a parent’s plea “I can’t see my runaway daughter who has left for Shincheonji Church” would naturally feel shaken. And this surely depicts Shincheonji Church as an evil organisation.
This news publisher recently asked two children of parents who were protesting like this the question, "Why don't you just go and visit your mother if she genuinely wants to see you?" The response was shocking.
◆The Day of Dad's Funeral
33-year-old female Ah-reum Kim wrote her reasons for not wanting to see her
mother. Kim said that from July 21st-27th 2011, she was
detained in a studio near Ansan Sangrok Church for seven days under a forced
conversion programme, before being rescued by police.
In addition, she wrote that she had been subjected to the forced conversion
program for the second time after being kidnapped and detained for 83 days from
March 9th-May 30th 2019, some eight years later. What is disturbing
is that that began on the day of her father’s passing from lung cancer.
On their way home after the funeral, she was abducted by three unidentified assailants and transported to secluded lodgings
in the mountains where she was confined.
She pleaded with her mother for her own life. Her mother said, "We must get
rid of the spirit of Satan from within you." While confined, Kim suffered
symptoms including cystitis, vaginitis, haemostasis, fever, enteritis and
conjunctivitis, but Kim's mother did not take her to hospital. She was refused
from going to the toilet, so she had to urinate in an empty styrofoam cup. She
was able to escape only four months later with the help of police as she was on
her way to the next conversion programme.
While in confinement, she was fired from her work for absenteeism, and her
online university studies ceased. She now suffers from severe post-traumatic
stress disorder including dyspnea and hallucinations. Medical treatment is in progress for cystitis and vaginitis.
The issue is that Kim's mother never confessed any wrongdoing. Instead, during
the report that was broadcast, she said, "My daughter who was in
Shincheonji Church did not care for her father who had passed away shortly
after." However, Kim wrote, “I had been nursing my father from night to
morning until just before his death from lung cancer. The police can vouch for
this.”
After her initial confinement in 2011, Ms. Kim's mother made numerous pledges, promising
her “I will never take you back to receive cult counselling.” Ms. Kim believed her
mother, and going to work, her mother would daily post fliers with the phrase 'Phoney-Shincheonji'
with a photo of Ms. Kim. Ms. Kim even had to remove around 100 flyers a day.
Worst of all is the unforeseen kidnap and three-month imprisonment that left
her with no time to mourn for her own father. Ms. Kim described it as "a perpetual
wound that will never heal." Two days later, Ms. Kim sued her mother on
charges of "abduction and confinement" for forced conversion. Ms. Kim
said she has no intention of withdrawing charges against her mother.
◆I returned home but my mum didn’t open the door
27-year-old female Jin-yi Im was unable to communicate directly because of social phobia, so her story has been told through her husband. According to Im's husband, his in-laws were violent and forceful with her since childhood. Tenderhearted Im considered leaving home when she became an adult.
Then after it was discovered that she had begun going to Shincheonji Church, she was fed sleeping pills by her parents on January 4th 2015. She was handcuffed and taken to Guri Cult Counseling Center run by Pastor Hyunwook Shin. After her experience, she left home out of shock and fear that she would be dragged back in for forced conversion a second time, but Shincheonji Church urged her to return home so she did so. She then left home again because of her parents' temper.
Under the counsel of Shincheonji Church, she again made efforts to return home, but when she arrived, her mother told her, "If you don't want to receive cult conversion education, then don't come in." Later, Im married her current husband. Marriage, therefore, was a self-help measure to save Ms. Im, who had been wrestling between the counsel of Shincheonji Church to 'Return Home,' and 'Parent Reunion'.
Im's mother appeared on a broadcast after the COVID-19 incident insisting "Shincheonji Church forced my daughter to leave home." On the 28th of January, Im's mother found her daughter's home address. Her daughter ran away after being photographed by a surveillance camera. Im’s mother then spread false information, saying, "My daughter has been missing for five years, so I don't know where she lives. She has also been exposed to the dangers of the coronavirus disease having been inside an accommodation provided by Shincheonji Church.”
According to Im’s husband, Ms. Im's father used to tell her, "If anyone tries to leave our family, I’ll drag them through a fence through any means or method". He verbally abused her and was violent, calling Ms. Im a 'dirty bitch'.
Ms. Im is currently suffering from typical post-traumatic stress disorder. Due to symptoms of social phobia, insomnia and anxiety, it is difficult for her to get out of the house or live a normal life, so she stays permanently at home.
Regarding reasons why Ms. Im refused to meet her parents, her husband assertively said, “It had nothing to do with Shincheonji Church. It was because her parents had denied any involvement in acts that include kidnap, confinement and assault. Ms. Im also feels ashamed about her parents' protest against Shincheonji Church”.
◆Parents protest “My daughter has fallen into Shincheonji Church”
Everyone’s hearts are moved to tears when they hear stories about parents who protest, “Return our children who are in Shincheonji Church”. It sounds like a desperate plea for one’s child to return. As a reason for seeing their child, the parent says, “I won’t ever bring you back to receive cult education”. This proves that they acknowledge that they had forcefully brought their child to a coercive conversion programme in the past.
However, their children do not believe in the words expressed by their parents. They (children) said, “I was scarred for life by my parents and I don't want to see them again, irrespective of Shincheonji Church.”
The reporter was told by children that their parents had denied any involvement in kidnap, confinement or assault and instead maintained that "Shincheonji Church manipulates them in this way."
◆Who shattered these families?
The stance of children who refuse to meet with parents and parents who claim 'my child ran away because of Shincheonji Church' is similar to the case mentioned above. Most children who have been drawn into the forced conversion programme named ‘cult counselling’ complain of ‘serious post-traumatic stress disorder' symptoms. Post-traumatic stress response theory includes stress response theory, shattered assumptions theory and emotional processing theory.
Among them, ‘shattered assumptions theory’ refers to an individual's assumption or belief about oneself, others and the world being destroyed by traumatic experiences, and the internal world and belief system are destroyed, resulting in post-traumatic stress disorder. Specifically, the beliefs presented in this theory are as follows:-
▲Belief in stability: ‘It will not happen to me’ ▲Belief in a meaningful world: ‘The world is controllable, predictable and fair’ ▲Belief in self: ‘I am a precious person who will not become a victim’.
Based on this theory, when one looks into the cause of his or her child’s post-traumatic stress disorder, the answer lies in the one who shattered the home. Children often say, "I chose Shincheonji Church for myself." However, this is unilaterally denied by the parents. In addition, through shock of kidnap and imprisonment by the most dependable parents, their personal safety is threatened and parents try to break their child's 'belief’ even through violence.
Because of their parents, their beliefs about stability are broken, and as they were subjected to unexpected kidnappings, restraint and religious conversions, their belief that the world is controlled, predictable and fair is also broken. The behaviour of parents who try to make their children assume their parents’ faith destroys the child’s belief that 'I would not be sacrificed'.
In conclusion, the parents' claim that 'families are torn apart by Shincheonji
Church' is a clear lie in terms of psychological analysis. A ‘shattered home’ is
the result of the coercion of parents who are to be most trusted and depended
on, not that of outsiders.
When the child leaves home and severs contact with their parents, the average
parent makes an appeal to the police to 'look for the child'. However, parents
who want to 'find their lost child in Shincheonji Church' do not appeal to the
police. In addition, the runaway of children over 20 is not classified as a
‘runaway’ but as an ’independent choice’. And adults over the age of 20 have
the right to make their own decisions. Even the police have no say in this.
It is important to note that adult children maintain, “I refuse to return home
because of the wounds I have suffered; not because of anything to do with Shincheonji
Church.” In conclusion, the Pastor of the Cult Centre who exploits parents’
finances instils anxiety with their words ‘the family will come to ruin because
of Shincheonji Church’. Parents who put their pastor’s words into action are
the real cause of “domestic ruin.''
Another cause of ‘domestic ruin’ is the heretical cult-framing and aversion to Shincheonji
Church of by people and groups with vested interests.
To read the full article as published in Cheonji Daily, please click here⇨http://www.newscj.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=744690&fbclid=IwAR3Mn6EeFnlcC4HpU4jGo_vXaHRBpfzro5CXU90GaFzJybcq9TycrMgud4Q
Related Blogs on Coercive Conversion
“Kidnapped & Confined: Coercive Conversion Abuses Parents’ Love & Must Be Eliminated” (Cheonji Daily 2nd June 2020)
“Coercive Conversion Pastor Treated me like an Animal and Instigated Mistrust Within my Family” (Cheonji Daily 1st June 2020)
Is This A Communist ‘People's Court'? The Deception of Coercive Conversion (Cheonji Daily 21st May 2020)
Restrained with Sleeping Pills…Resisted Forced Conversion, but was Assaulted and Eventually Fainted (Cheonji Daily 20th May 2020)
Drugged, Handcuffed, Kidnapped, Confined; it’s OK, they Belong to Shincheonji! Today’s ‘Cult Framing' that Violates Human Rights and Tears Families Apart (Cheonji Daily 6th May 2020)
“Kidnapped and Confined Without Shower or Food, and Sexually Shamed” (Cheonji Daily 29th April 2020)
"Family deceived and manipulated into locking up and beating pregnant family member. 'Peace' will be found when truth is revealed." (Cheonji Daily 4th May 2020)
"They forced me to remove my underwear in front of relatives in a car. I'm a 30 year-old woman” (Cheonji Daily 28th April 2020)
2 comments
Thank you for sharing this, I hope justice will prevail
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. It's heart aching to hear victim's experiences of coervice conversion. May they continue to persevere in truth. The truth and justice will prevail.
ReplyDelete