The Appeal of the Victim of Coercive Conversion Program Telling the Truth

The Appeal of the Victim of Coercive Conversion Program Telling the Truth

 

 

  Coercive conversion program(or Forced conversion program) is still prevalent in South Korea. It deprives a person of religious freedom and tramples his or her human rights. Why does such torture in the old age happen in S.Korea, where religious freedom is guaranteed in Korean Constitution?

 

  One is that conversion pastors(who conduct coercive conversion programs) join hands with political power, two is the pastors manipulated victims’ parents by separating themselves from the parents to avoid the law, and three is the pastors call other churches cult to draw people’s attention.

 

  Because of these, the Korean government is not cracking down on or investigating the conversion program. The number of the victims increase. The victims’ appeals show the dire situation of the conversion program.

 

  In the appeal of Kim, a victim of coercive conversion, there are also despicable behaviors of the pastors.

 

  She who believes in Shincheonji Church tried to do better to her parents who feel bad about the church. However, conversion pastors told that if their daughter fell into the cult of Shincheonji, she would offer everything to the church and give up her life so her parents felt extreme anxiety and fear. 

 

 

  What will happen when parents with children hear these words? Anyone will do everything for their children. How despicable are the conversion pastors who exploit parents’ hearts. The pastors do such acts only to make their own money. At first, they seem to be trying not to receive money, saying it is God’s will, but they take away donations from victims’ parents for various reasons. So eventually, hundreds to tens of millions Korean won are taken from their parents. What happens if someone wants to be converted and visits them directly? They don't try to convert when they think earning money cannot be or the person is annoying. These actions prove that they are not for God's will, but for their means of making money.

 

  Kim had the same experience. Her parents could not convert her before. Understanding the parents' feelings of being swayed by the conversion pastor, she tried to talk a lot and spend a lot of time with her mother.

  

  But after her mother went to a church in Gumi, Korea(where the conversion pastor is), she said to her, “Get out from my house, demon, I do not need a daughter like you,” and protested in front of Shincheonji Church by saying, “Give me my daughter!” In fact, Kim tried to mend fences with her mother at home.  

 

  When she went to a church in Gumi with her parents and told the pastor to convert to herself, the pastor told them that she should live a life of isolation from the world, saying that she should not only go to academies for a few months while in education, but also get rid of her cell phone. It's the conversion pastor who makes people quit their studies.

 

  When she asked why she should be cut off from the world and why she should be educated in a compulsory environment, the pastor simply handed over all responsibility to her parents, saying, "I tried to conduct education in such a free environment," and "It was parents who created such an environment."

 

  But in fact, when she took last coercive conversion program, windows were sealed, she lived in a container box with a bad environment, a sunless and an unseen environment, sitting still in a dark room, always depressed and unable to breathe properly, and trapped enough to lose both her parents' and children's health.

 

 

  Conversion pastors don't want to take any responsibility for themselves and put everything on victims’ parents. They convert people to make money, not for faith, while avoiding the law. Such entities should be widely known and the coercive conversion program should be eliminated from all over the world.