Brainwashing and Religious Torture Accelerate in China

Brainwashing and Religious Torture Accelerate in China

Gao Rongrong, in hospital after being tortured by Chinese security forces.

The Falun Gong remains the major target of Communist authorities and practitioners in China according to a series of internal Communist Party documents, some of them posted online.

Included are details of a new three-year, multi-billion dollar campaign targeting Falun Gong practitioners across China.

The campaign’s stated goal is to “transform” 75 percent of all known practitioners, who number in the tens of millions despite eleven years of brutal suppression. Specifically, the campaign calls upon security forces to go into “villages and households” to “educate and conquer” Falun Gong practitioners.

Transformation—a euphemism for forcing practitioners to renounce Falun Gong and pledge allegiance to the Communist Party—has been at the core of the anti-Falun Gong campaign since its inception. As part of the
transformation process, individuals are typically subjected to physical and psychological torture. (report)

"What these documents call for is a campaign of surveillance, extralegal abductions, physical torture, and psychological abuse on a massive scale," says Falun Gong spokesman Erping Zhang. "The scenes playing out across China could be taken right out of Orwell’s 1984."

"When Chinese authorities talk of ‘transforming’ Falun Gong practitioners, what they mean is torturing out of people the aspiration to be honest, kind, and tolerant. They torment healthy, rational people to the point where the victim either betrays his or her most deeply held beliefs and completely submits to the will of the Communist Party, dies from abuse, or is driven to the edge of sanity. They push practitioners to the point where life is a living hell."

The Falun Dafa Information Center has obtained eight documents from various localities describing a campaign to intensify efforts to transform Falun Gong practitioners from 2010 to 2012. Seven of the documents are available online, while the eighth was obtained from an internal source whose identity and location cannot be revealed for fear of retribution.

Based on details in the documents, the campaign is a multi-billion dollar initiative. On one webpage from Xinglong township in Sichuan province, the instructions call for an increase in funding for transformation
efforts. The document states that “to transform one Falun Gong person costs on average 45,000 yuan [$6,750] nationwide, 40,900 yuan in Sichuan provice, in my township, 39,000 yuan.” Given that Falun Gong practitioners in China number from 20 to 40 million (demographics), the total cost reaches tens of billions of dollars.

Although all eight documents are from the level of county or below, there is little doubt that the instructions originated at the top echelons of the Communist Party. One document explicitly states that the campaign was initiated by the central 6-10 Office, an extralegal security force that has led the persecution of Falun Gong since 1999.

A timeline of Falun Gong abuse and persection as well as this latest report can be found online at The Falun Dafa Information Center here.

Obama Skips Golden Temple Visit

Obama Skips Golden Temple Visit

President Caves in to Domestic Political Ignorance
over His Religious Identity Rather Than Standing for Religious Freedom

www.religionandpolicy.org

______________________________________________________________

Alexandria, VA (October 20, 2010) - THE INSTITUTE on Religion and Public Policy is deeply disappointed President Barack Obama has decided to opt out of an expected visit to the Sikh Golden Temple, one of India's holiest shrines, out of fear that wearing the requisite headgear might make him look like a Muslim.

"The Obama Administration has an abysmal record on international religious freedom issues. This could have been an unique and historic opportunity for the president to stand in the holiest shrine of an often-discriminated religious minority and to speak for the rights of all minorities around the globe," commented THE INSTITUTE's Founder and Chairman of the Board, Joseph K. Grieboski.

Obama was to visit the sprawling golden complex in Amritsar, "but the plan appears to have foundered on the thorny question of how Mr. Obama would cover his head, as Sikh tradition requires, while visiting the temple," wrote the New York Times.
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Sikhs are often mistaken as Muslims, and since 9/11 they have been the unintentional targets of anti-Muslim violence in the United States.

"By turning down a visit to the Golden Temple, President Obama disappoints not only the global Sikh community, but also every religious minority in the world who saw his visit as a demonstrable sign of support for their rights," continued Mr. Grieboski. "Instead of standing for religious freedom and against religious intolerance, President Obama has caved in to an ignorant minority in the United States who hide behind a conspiracy theory that he is a Muslim."

________________________________________

THE INSTITUTE on Religion and Public Policy

500 N Washington Street
Alexandria, VA 22314

703.888.1700 (p)
703.888.1704 (f)

www.religionandpolicy.org

Contact:
 Sarah Channing Grieboski
Director of Communications
sarah@religionandpolicy.org

FRANCE: Religious Minorities stigmatized as "mutating viruses" and "pathology of belief"

FRANCE

Religious Minorities stigmatized as "mutating viruses" and "pathology of belief"

CAPLC - HRWF (07.10.2010) - www.hrwf.net - Created over ten years ago to fight against discrimination of religious or belief minorities in France, the Coordination of Associations and Individuals for Freedom of Conscience which I am representing wants to express its strongest disapproval concerning the statement made on 26 November 2009 by the French Secretary of State for Justice, Jean-Marie Bockel, about minorities of religion or belief derogatorily labelled as "sectarian".

According to him the growing quest of personal fulfilment and the emergence of unusual religious syncretism are significant of the sectarian phenomenon which "can be analyzed as pathology of belief on a background of individuation and deregulation of belief."

This public statement made in 2009 at the first national conference of the Inter-Ministerial Mission of Fight and Vigilance against Sectarian Deviances (MIVILUDES) is still posted on the official site of the Ministry of Justice to this day. For the French authorities, it is necessary to repress minorities of belief they consider as deviant and to attempt to regulate beliefs.

The Secretary of State added that "sectarian deviances" are "comparable to mutating viruses which spread in often insidious ways the poison of manipulation of human behaviours and spirits". We understand that viruses as such should be eliminated.

In spite of the French government's assertions to the OSCE and the United Nations that MIVILUDES does not take in consideration the content of beliefs, the fact is that the main criterion retained by MIVILUDES in its 2008 Report to characterize mental manipulation is that "one or more people start to believe in certain ideas which differ from the ideas generally accepted by society".

RELIGIOUS SCHOLARS URGED TO INVESTIGATE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN JAPAN

http://stopjapanabductions.org/

Speaking to the Center for Studies on New Religions (CENSUR), Dan Fefferman, President of the International Coalition for Religious Freedom, urged religious scholars from Europe and North America to conduct independent investigations into the kidnappings and forced de-conversions of Unification Church members in Japan.

CESNUR is the world’s premier gathering of scholars dedicated to the study of new religions and religious minorities. Approximately 150 scholars attended the conference, held in Turin, Italy at the University of Turin.

Fefferman reported to CESNUR attendees that 10 to 20 Unification Church members are currently victims of forced de-conversions each year in Japan. Two new victims were abducted against their will during the month of August, and several more church members remain missing.

While so-called “deprogramming” has been eliminated in the United States for nearly 20 years, there exists a well organized movement in Japan to kidnap Unification Church members and hold them against their will for months or even years at a time.

Most Japanese government officials turn a blind eye to the human rights abuses, and police refuse to investigate in part because there are not enough independent voices demanding justice.

“Scholars are not involved in Japan,” Fefferman told the CESNUR audience. “One of the reasons they are not involved is that they are taking a professional risk if they defend the Unification Church.”

Fefferman shared real life stories of deprogramming survivors who report beatings, threats with knives, humiliation and other psychological abuse, food depravation and rape. Despite the clear abuses of civil liberties, Japanese authorities refuse to intervene, calling religious affiliation a “family matter.”

In the United States, American citizens are being encouraged to sign a petition for Congress to hold hearings on Japan’s human rights violations. Specifically, the hearing would be held by the Tom Lantos Commission on Human Rights, co-chaired by Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA).

Support International Human Rights, NOW!

 Support International Human Rights, NOW!

Sign this Petition:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/4/support-human-rights-now/

• Target: President Medvedev
• Sponsored by: THE INSTITUTE on Religion and Public Policy

We, the undersigned, write to communicate our concerns regarding the escalating threats to religious freedom in Russia. We are writing to respectfully request that you both address these urgent issues and immediately begin to establish policies that uphold the Russian Constitution and international commitments.

Article 29 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees freedom of religion, including the right to profess either alone or in community with others any religion or to profess no religion at all, to freely choose, have and share religious and other beliefs and manifest them in practice.  Article 30 provides that everyone shall have the right to freedom of association.

Further, Russia has signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and has signed and ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Yet the use of the 2002 Extremism Law to combat "religious extremism" and, coming against an established pattern of local government obstruction of non-Russian Orthodox religious communities, this has led to a crackdown on religions that has been termed by Forum 18 News Service as the new "Inquisition."

Religionsfreiheit und Christenverfolgung

Religionsfreiheit und Christenverfolgung

Interview mit Daniel Gerber vom Hilfswerk "Open Doors"

http://www.politik.ch/religionsfreiheit-und-christenverfolgung.html

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Christen sind weltweit die am meisten verfolgte Religionsgruppe. Daniel Gerber vom christlichen Hilfswerk "Open Doors" gibt in einem Interview mit politik.ch Auskunft über den neuen Christenverfolgungs-Index. 

Herr Gerber, Open Doors widmet sich immer wieder dem Problem der Christenverfolgung. Sie erstellen einen viel beachteten Index darüber. In welchen Staaten finden die schlimmsten Verfolgungen statt? Welches sind Ihre Quellen? 

Unverändert hart ist die Unterdrückung in den letzten Jahren in Nordkorea geblieben, im Iran, Irak, Saudi-Arabien, Ägypten und Somalia, sowie in – wenn man von schlimmer Verfolgung spricht – etwa einem Dutzend weiterer Länder. Deutlich gestiegen ist der Druck in den letzten beiden Jahrzehnten gerade auch in Pakistan, mitunter durch das oft missbrauchte Blasphemiegesetz und zahlreichen Morden durch den fanatischen Mob.

Im laufenden Jahr sind die Repressionen namentlich in Algerien und Marokko gestiegen. Nach einer Entspannung in Algerien verschärft sich die Lage derzeit wieder, so stehen etwa nächste Woche zwei Christen vor Gericht, weil sie während des Ramadans tagsüber gegessen haben, zudem fordert eine Provinzregierung die Schliessung einer Kirche. Aus Marokko wurden heuer rund 130 ausländische Christen ausgewiesen. Generell ist zu sagen, dass wo Christen verfolgt werden, auch andere religiöse Minderheiten leiden und es um die Menschenrechte nicht besonders gut steht. Von Zeit zu Zeit gibt es glücklicherweise auch gute Nachrichten, so hat sich die Lage in China leicht gebessert, auch wenn noch lange nicht alles zum Besten steht.

Unsere Informationen beziehen wir durch ein dichtes Netz an Fachleuten die in den Ländern leben, Anwälte, kirchliche Leiter und eigenen Mitarbeitern welche mit den Betroffenen reden aber auch mit den Behörden, Richtern und Funktionären. Daneben führen wir eigene Recherchegespräche, im Fall von Marokko zum Beispiel mit Ausgewiesenen, da auch Schweizer betroffen waren auch mit der Schweizer Botschaft und weiteren Involvierten.

The Terry Jones saga shows the strength of anti-Americanism

Sunday Telegraph

The Terry Jones saga shows the strength of anti-Americanism

The 'pastor' who threatened to burn the Koran shows how eager Europe is to believe the worst of America, argues Janet Daley.

 Anti-Americanism has a new pin-up. “Pastor” Terry Jones, whose congregation may number as many as 50 on a good week, is holding the world in thrall with his on-again, off-again Koran-burning stunt. In spite of his idiotic proposal having been condemned by everyone in US public life, including the President, Sarah Palin, the secretaries of state and defence, the Pentagon, and the spokesmen of every respectable religious group, this wacko fantasist would have been capable (we were told) of destroying any prospect of peace between the West and the Islamic world. 

 

Mercifully, after what may have been a persuasive visit from a gaggle of FBI men, the “pastor” decided to cancel his grotesque commemoration of September 11. But presumably if his face-saving story of receiving an assurance that the Ground Zero mosque was to be moved is definitively trounced, he could choose once again to push us to the brink of global Armageddon.

Hello? Has anyone noticed how utterly ridiculous this is? One publicity-crazed loony threatens to commit an irresponsibly offensive act, to the virtually universal disgust of his own countrymen and the populations of America’s allies, and that’s it: the annihilation of any chance of bridge-building or conciliation between Muslim countries and the Western nations.

That this absurdity became the immediately accepted received wisdom suggests that the world (and not just the Muslim parts of it) must be very eager indeed to find a plausible excuse for casting America as a cartoon country whose heartland is dominated by bigoted know-nothings. Never mind that this is the same America which, only two years ago, was being hailed by ecstatic European liberals for having elected a black president, whose father and stepfather had been Muslims. I remember saying at the time that the victory of Barack Obama would provide only the most fleeting respite from the dominant anti-American mythology which is so essential to European self-regard.

Thousands Rally Against Park51 Mosque on 9/11 Anniversary

Thousands Rally Against Park51 Mosque on 9/11 Anniversary
www.christianpost.com 

As many as 40,000 people gathered near New York City’s Ground Zero Saturday on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to protest the planned Islamic center and mosque two blocks away.

But according to Agence France-Presse and other mainstream media outlets, only about 2,000 people participated in the rally. The exceptionally large difference in figures is intentional, claimed organizers of the anti-Park51 demonstration.

“Crickets are chirping in taqiyya (Arabic word for concealing, guarding) media newsroom nationwide (although they were all there),” complained Pamela Geller, who organized the rally. “There has been no coverage.”

“We organized a rally of remembrance that dwarfed the opposition. If the America haters had 4,000, we had ten times more,” she wrote on her blog, Atlas Shrugs, disputing reports claiming that the dueling protests over the mosque were evenly matched. “The media is playing the dueling rallies; it was no such thing.”

At the rally against the mosque, international figures were featured, including controversial Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders.

Fla. Preacher: Quran Burning Plan 'Back to Square One'

 Fla. Preacher: Quran Burning Plan 'Back to Square One'

 www.christianpost.com

Just hours after canceling “International Burn A Quran Day,” the Florida church behind the controversial event said Thursday it could move forward with its original plan if the deal it thought it struck turns out to be non-existent.

(Photo: AP Photo / Phil Sandlin)
Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center speaks to the media as Imam Muhammad Musri of the Islamic Society of Central Florida looks on at left, Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010, in Gainesville, Fla.…

"We have not canceled the burning on Saturday,” said Wayne Sapp, associate pastor of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla. “We have suspended it until we get confirmation on the info we were given today.”

Earlier in the day, the church’s head pastor, Terry Jones, told members of the press that he and his church would consider it “a sign from God” to cancel the burning if the group behind the proposed Islamic center and mosque near the World Trade Center site were to cancel or move its facility to another location.

“The American people do not want the mosque there. And of course Moslems do not want us to burn the Quran,” Jones explained Thursday, tying together the two controversial plans.

That said, the non-denominational preacher reported that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the man behind the Park51 project, "has agreed to move the mosque.”

In response, Jones said he and members of his church agreed to cancel Saturday’s burning.

VIENNA-Austria: Pro-Choice against Pro-Life - How the "ProChoice" lobbyists use nasty tricks & violence against christian activists (see video)

The Story Of Human Rights (video)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Video)

Exposing Japan's Human Rights Violations

Exposing Japan's Human Rights Violations

A new website launched yesterday exposes human rights violations in Japan tied to abductions and forced conversions of religious minorities in Japan.

Forced conversions and abductions in Japan are a hidden human rights crime that denies people the fundamental right to worship freely.  The site, www.StopJapanAbductions.org  will pursue justice on behalf of victims and hold the government of Japan accountable for their failure to prosecute these crimes against humanity.

The new website hosts news articles and videos of kidnap victims, as well as a petition, calling on the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission to hold Congressional hearings into Japan's violation of international human rights treaties.

The European Leadership Conference in a fact finding tour to Japan recently held a summit featuring world renowned human rights activists who attest to the abuses taking place in Japan.

According to human rights activist Aaron Rhodes: "This is a nightmare because public authorities [in Japan] are in collusion with criminals."

After many interviews with victims of religious abductions and forced conversions in Japan, Peter Zoehrer, a journalist in Europe, concluded:

• Police in Japan often refuse to help victims of abduction and forced conversion
• In some cases, police in Japan cooperate with the perpetrators
• In several decades, not a single case has been prosecuted in Japan
• Japanese civil courts treat the problem as a "family matter"

The website petition, from the International Coalition for Religious Freedom, calls on Congress to hold hearings before the end of the year about religious and human rights abuses taking place in Japan – one of America's great trading partners.  These hearings should be held by the Tom Lantos Commission on Human Rights, co-chaired by Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA).

Invitation: CESNUR Conference - Turino, Italy, 9-11 September 2010

The 2010 International Conference

Changing Gods. Between Religion and Everyday Life

An International Conference organized by CESNUR, Italian Association of Sociology (AIS) - Sociology of Religions Section, and the School of Political Science - University of Torino

Torino, Italy, 9-11 September 2010

Università di Torino - Facoltà di Scienze Politiche - Via G. Plana 10

 

 PROGRAM

REGISTER here

Thursday 9th September

8,45-10 / Registration / Entrance hall
10-12,30 / Session 1 – Plenary / Great Hall (Room A) - Ground floor
Changing Gods

Chair: J. Gordon MELTON
Welcome Addresses
Roberto COTA (Governor of Piedmont)
Antonio SAITTA (President, Province of Torino)
Franco GARELLI (Chair, School of Political Science, University of Torino)
Massimo INTROVIGNE (Managing Director, CESNUR)
Enzo PACE (Chair, Sociology of Religions Section, AIS)
What’s Going On? Are the Gods Here, There or Everywhere?
Eileen BARKER (London School of Economics)
Diffused Religion and Prayer
Roberto CIPRIANI (University of Roma Tre)
The End of the Mass? Over-Reporting and Catholic Mass Attendance: An Empirical Study
PierLuigi ZOCCATELLI (CESNUR)

12,30 / Lunch (on your own)
14-16 / Parallel Sessions
14-16 / Session 2 / Room E - Ground floor
Pluralism and Globalization
Chair: Molly CHATALIC
Strange Bedfellows? Religious Pluralism, Exclusivism, and Certitude
Peter ADMIRAND (Trinity College, Dublin)
Religious Differences Lead to Linguistic Differences (Albanian Reality)
Rrezarta DRAÇINI (Luigj Gurakuqi University, Shkodra)
Europe Between Christian Identity and Multiculturalism
Alessandro IOVINO (Federico II University, Napoli)

14-16 / Session 3 / Room G - 1st floor
Islam and Globalization
Chair: Bernadette RIGAL-CELLARD
Two Neighbor Mosques in the Greater Lisbon Area: Proximity and Conflict Between Salafism and Sufism
José ANES (Lusíada University, Lisboa)
View of Male and Female Iranian Students. Gender Egalitarian Attitudes among the Women and the Younger Generation in Iran
Ehsaneh BAGHERI (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris)
Religious Pluralism and Qoran
Abrahim FALLAH (Islamic Azad University, Sari Branch)