Dr. Balcomb Defends Family Federation on BBC Radio 4, Denounces Religious Persecution

Dr. Balcomb criticised Japan’s decision against the Family Federation on BBC Radio, calling it religious persecution and citing xenophobia, human rights violations, and misrepresentation of donation practices.

Click the link above to listen to the programme. Our segment begins at 7:17.

Last week, the Tokyo District Court in Japan made a controversial ruling that, if not reversed on appeal will result in the family Federation of Japan losing it corporate and legal status.

This is a very serious outcome which could lead to the liquidation and confiscation of all the churches and of funds donated by ordinary members.

Understandably there has been a great deal of coverage in the media in Japan and around the world. On Sunday March 30th, FFWPU-UK Director Dr. Michael Balcomb was featured on the Radio 4 “Sunday” programme which covers news of ethical and religious interest.

He had the opportunity to state the church position, and to testify a little bit to True Parents and to explain the spiritual focus of the Family Federation. For a link to the programme on BBC Sounds click here: the segment starts around the seven minutes and 17 seconds in.

To read the Family Federation of Europe’s press release in different languages click here for English, French, German and Spanish. There are also many articles published on our sister site unificationnews.eu covering the decision and the ramifications in more detail.

Here is a transcript on what Dr. Balcomb said:

Of course, we think to appeal this decision because we think it’s a serious mistake and that it’s in contravention of the conventions on Human Rights and Freedom of Religion.

We think the real reason here is connected to lingering xenophobia and even racial prejudice among the Japanese people against Koreans, where our church originated.

The Family Federation was founded in 1954 by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon in South Korea in answer to a personal call from Jesus Christ and now led by his widow, Hak-ja Han.

We call her Holy Mother Han. We’re a biblical faith and perhaps unique in our teachings, we teach that God is both Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother. Our focus, frankly, is on encouraging strong marriages and families because we believe that it’s in marriage that we come to resemble God.

We do encourage our members to donate. Of course, all religions do that. We don’t accept the Ministry of Education’s explanation in Japan that this is excessive or it is forced. They quote about two-hundred cases but we’d have to remember that we have several hundred thousand members in Japan so, at most, we’re talking about one tenth of one-per-cent, over a period of about twenty-five years.

If I could put it in scriptural terms, Jesus said that God leaves ninety-nine to save the one. Of course, as a pastor, I am sorry that any people who donated leave unhappy but the church has never been accused of any crime and I believe this is a case of religious persecution. The assassin of Shinso Abe, Tetsuya Yamagami, was never a member of our community and I think it’s absurd that his crime should be laid at our feet.