On 10th June 2020, Cheonji Ilbo (Daily) published an article entitled "Mum’s Piercing Words, “Get out, you Bi*ch!" Yet Later Protested "Bring Back my Daughter!"’ This is a translation of that article.
The once unknown term 'forced conversion' became a serious topic in Korean society in 2008 after Pastor Yong-Sik Jin sent Mrs. Baek-Hyang Jeong to a psychiatric ward in order to carry out forced conversion. He was later punished by law. At that time Pastor Jin, who headed up the Heresy Investigation Committee of the Christian Council of Korea (CCK), forcibly converted believers who belonged to denominations of the established church labelled so-called 'cults', including Mrs. Jeong’s. Such cases began to rise in leaps and bounds. At first, pastors carried out ‘forced conversion’ (also termed ‘deprogramming’ or ‘coercive conversion’) themselves, but later altered their approach. Today, forced conversion pastors instil fear and anxiety in the families of Shincheonji Church members by slandering Shincheonji Church, so that families are deceived into believing their beloved child, wife or parent has fallen into a ‘cult’ and are prone to making immediate hasty decisions. In order to prevent this, forced conversion programs tainted by illegal practices that include kidnap, confinement and violence become the 'last straw' to save the family. In 21st century South Korea, where issues around religious freedom have been brought to the limelight, ‘forced conversion’ continues unabated. This paper intends to serialise the distressing appeals of victims who have had to endure human rights violations and oppression through forced conversion, and are otherwise unable to voice their plea.
[Cheonji Ilbo = Reporter Kang Soo-kyung] Parents who take
steps to subject their child to coercive (forced) conversion often do
so under feelings of intense anxiety and fear. The fear of losing one’s child can
lead to irrational acts that result from trusting in the words of a coercive conversion
pastor. Parents are persuaded that they have to protest or their children won't
return. Victims testify that they have never
seen parents behave this way. Ms. Min-hee Gil (pseudonym) was shocked by her
mother’s sudden change in mood during conversion 'counselling' with a conversion
pastor. At home, her mother shouted at Gil to leave, and later took
part in an outdoor protest calling for her daughter to leave Shincheonji Church
and come back home. The following is an account of Ms. Gil's testimony.
But my mum would often yell at me "get out of the house!" after coming back from one church in Guri. When things didn't go as she had planned,
she resolved that she no longer wanted to see me, telling me to “get out of the house” then protesting outside with the plea “bring
back my daughter”.
My mother's attitude left me worried and in tears daily, my heart aching. As my mother protested I worried about her health.
I recall my mother’s piercing words, “I don't need a daughter like you; get out of the house,
you bi*ch!” She then protested, “I want my daughter back”. It still breaks my
heart.
What I want from my mother is respect for my basic rights. I'm her daughter, born
from her womb. It’s heart-breaking to hear my mother painfully shouting the words,
"You’re not my daughter!"
I was taken to a church with my mother in Guri where I met a coercive conversion pastor and underwent coercive conversion. But I refused
it. What they demanded was criminal and humiliating.
I was a passionate young woman in my twenties creating my life as best as I could.
I was reading self-development books to develop myself, exercising and studying for higher education qualifications without a need for parents' financial assistance.
I had planned to go to a hagwon (a for-profit private institute or
academy) in September but the conversion pastor told me that I wouldn’t be able to because I had to
undergo the coercive conversion programme. He told me I couldn't go, took my cell
phone and coerced me into taking the programme which lasted a few months.
I lived a life disconnected from the world during the conversion programme. All that time spent planning my life went to waste
and I felt restless and frustrated.
I iterated, “I must go to a hagwon. I don't understand why my cell
phone has been taken away. What about my rights?!”
Upon hearing this, the conversion counsellor reiterated that it wouldn’t be possible.
I then thought of my mother’s outdoor protests and recalled the conversion pastors passively watching her as if unaware of the situation. I asked him
what he thought about my mother’s protest. He passed it
off saying, "I'm sorry", and acted as if he was helpless in changing the situation.
If coercive conversion pastors really dislike Shincheonji Church, then why don't they themselves protest instead of deceiving parents to do so? Those who dislike Shincheonji Church resort to nothing but amoral
and callous behaviour in response.
While I was undergoing the coercive conversion programme, I asked why I had to be completely
removed from the outside world. The conversion pastor ambiguously explained it was “to cut
all contact with Shincheonji Church and prevent you from going back there”.
I asked him why such 'education' forcibly confines people in secluded locations. I
was shocked listening to friends who had undergone this coercive
conversion programme in confinement. I asked the conversion pastor what went through his mind when he went to 'counsel' victims in confinement. Did he not see the
situation and condition they were in? If he saw but did nothing, was he not
complicit in this crime and one who shoulders responsibility? He replied, “I've
never seen people confined and the conversion programme is carried out of one's
volition. It’s the parents who create this environment.”
I asked him if he was blind to the fact that people were
held against their will while undergoing coercive conversion. Yet the
conversion pastor attributed full blame on parents who had physically brought them to
this place. Even though it is parents who drag their children onto the conversion
programme, are conversion pastors innocent? Can they really say this after witnessing it? Even if one person sees another committing an
injustice, if he or she says nothing and fails to report it, then is that person not complicit in the crime? How can one just watch idly while another's child is being handcuffed, chained and bound to be dragged away?
All the windows and doors were sealed as I was confined in
decrepit surroundings without a ray of light; the body motionless and swollen, parents (who should set the example) with children living with
chronic depression in a dark, confined space without a breath of fresh air, their health slowly deteriorating.
If the conversion pastor's own child or parent were
treated like this by another, would they just sit still? Should they not put
themselves in that child's or parent's shoes and reflect?
To read the full article as published in Cheonji Daily, please click here⇨https://bit.ly/2ARksPV
Related Blogs on Coercive Conversion
"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)
“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)
Why do they insist on using coercive conversion? It usually backfires! It's not the way to reach someone. There is so much psychology at play here, it's the mind they're dealing with. Pastors aren't the right people to help here if indeed there is help needed.
ReplyDeleteAnyone else hear that someone filed a case against SCJ for the way they were evangelized and the judge ruled in the plaintiff's favour?
I don't know people, seems like 2 sides to every story just as above.