The Unification Church spoke out Wednesday against what it called “biased news coverage” in Japan in the wake of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s assassination, asserting that “abusive” reporting over the past month has included “hate speech” and “encourages religious discrimination.”
The coverage, emanating mainly from left-leaning news outlets, amounts to “religious persecution” and risks triggering violence against believers, according to Rev. Tomihiro Tanaka, who heads the Japan branch of the church, formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU).
“Our churches in Japan have been subject to death threats and threatening phone calls, abusive language blasting out of sound trucks, and obstruction of assemblies, with some members of the media harassing ordinary members,” Rev.