International Coalition for Religious Freedom Update, October 22, 2011

Goto Case Press Release. ICRF has issued a press release announcing the publication of Mr. Toru Goto’s court statements. Unfortunately, our initial release on this subject was rejected by the “24-7” PR news company. They informed us that our issues are “too controversial” for them, and they will no longer be working with us. We suspect that our opponents complained to the agency, and as a result they decided to drop us as their client. In the meantime, we are using another press release agency, “i-newswire.” The results from this release are promising, but we aren’t sure yet if they are a good fit for us. We will continue using “i- newswire” for now and will closely monitor the results. The release can be accessed at this Internet site: www.i-newswire.com/goto-case-seen-as-test-of-japan/133707.

Religious Freedom Roundtable. I had the opportunity to brief about 40 people, including leaders of prominent human rights organizations and religious freedom officers of various mainstream Christian denominations, about the issue of kidnapping and forced conversion in Japan on October 6 at the bi-monthly meeting of the Religious Freedom Roundtable. The meeting was hosted by Freedom House and was held this time at the headquarters of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. I reported on the recent disappearance of Mr. K.M., the lawsuit of Mr. Toru Goto, and the recent court victory for Unificationists in Thailand. Many participants took copies of our press releases, and several people received True Father’s autobiography.

Canada Will Create IRF Office. The government of Canada is forming an office of International Religious Freedom. In that context, we recently met a Canadian diplomat in Washington who expressed shock and surprise about the Japanese cases. She agreed to facilitate a meeting between our Canadian representatives and her counterparts in her home country. Canadian UPF secretary general Franco Famularo will represent our cause there. In announcing the formation of the office, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird promised to respond whenever people “suffer merely because of their faith.” He added that, “Our nationalities are many, but we share one humanity.” So far so good, but as with all government bureaucracies, it will take time for the office to get up and running.

New Radio Show. Our team manager Ichiko Sudo started hosting her own show on WHVW Radio in the Hudson Valley area on October 19. Entitled “My Moment of Courage with Ichiko Sudo,” it will feature survivors of various types of mistreatment, ranging from religious persecution to domestic violence, racial hatred, kidnapping and sexual abuse. Last week’s show featured interviews of faith-breaking victim Gail Veith and domestic violence survivor Bridget Lassner. Congratulations Ichiko, we are expecting big things from you!

Kajikuri and Yokota’s Trip. Our team was very happy to welcome our Japanese colleagues, Mr. Masayoshi Kajikuri and Mr. Koichi Yokota, to Washington DC last week. We held extensive talks with them and have agreed to add a new focus to our work agenda. I need to keep the contents of our discussions confidential but we would especially like to thank the Washington Times Foundation for their generosity in hosting this important meeting.

Iranian Pastor’s Case. ICRF has joined a prestigious group of human rights organizations in sending a joint letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, expressing our concern for Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani, the Iranian Christian pastor who has been convicted of apostasy and sentenced to death. He was arrested on October 13, 2009, after attempting to invoke his rights under the Iranian Constitution to educate his children according to the religious teachings of his family. Please pray for Pastor Nadarkhani and other religious believers in Iran who cannot freely express their beliefs. (Some of you may recall that my wife, Susan, was a pioneer UC missionary to Iran in the 1970s. We had about 40 members living in centers when she came back to the US in ’79. Our movement there has been almost wiped out since the present regime took over.)

CARP at NJIT. We are happy to report that a newly formed CARP chapter at the New Jersey Institute of Technology has been approved by the Student Senate, and NJIT-CARP plans to host an event about kidnapping and confinement in Japan on November 18. Titled “Japan’s Hidden Shame,” the event will by emceed by Ichiko Sudo with Luke Higuchi and other survivors giving their testimonies, and myself speaking from the standpoint of human rights and Japan’s responsibility to live up to its responsibility as a member of the international community.

Hacker Problem Solved. For several weeks www.religiousfreedom.com has suffered from a ‘hacker’ attack with the result that Google searches described ICRF as an organization which dealt with “free credit reports.” This was driving new viewers away from the site and caused a drop in our Google ranking. Thanks to the good work of our Internet consultant David Payer, this problem has now been solved, and ICRF is again described as it should be: “a non-profit, non-sectarian, educational organization dedicated to defending the religious freedom of all.” In the meantime we are working on another problem that is preventing us from adding new top stories to our home page. Our “recent news” and “world report” sections are being updated as usual however, and we are continuing to add documents to our “stop religious kidnapping” section.

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