10/29/2010
3:49PM
This article comments on the nonresponse on behalf of Japan regarding religious persecution of members of the Unification Church. American religious figureheads spoke out to the press about this issue outside of Japan's consulate 15 days prior to this article and since, there has been no response from Japan. Victims are being abducted, imprisoned, and forced to de-convert. The striking statistic presented is that "over the past 40 years, an estimated 4,300 members of the Unification Church have been subjected to human rights violations."
As serious as this issue would seem, this is a problem in so many countries around the world. Why is such an emphasis being put on Japan? My guess would be that since the religious group being persecuted is of Christian denomination, more American politicians are willing to give it attention. And at 4300 people being affected over the course of 40 years- thats a little over 100 people each year...This specific problem is being overemphasized while ignoring the larger global problem of religious discrimination as a whole. I definitely feel that this article shows significant bias towards the importance of this issue due to it surrounding a Christian ideology. It doesn't address both sides of the issue, and doesn't investigate very deeply. Instead, it just plays on the emotional ties of United States citizens to support global Christianity, instead of global tolerance of everyone.
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