Child consultation centers identified 65 cases of child abuse related to religious faith from fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2022, a recent survey by The Yomiuri Shimbun has discovered.
Problems regarding the children of religious followers, or shukyo nisei (second-generation followers), surfaced following the fatal shooting of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July last year. The cases identified by child consultation centers may only be the tip of the iceberg -- there has been at least one private-sector survey in which about 1,000 people said they were forced to engage in religious activities during childhood.
One expert stressed the need to build a framework to help people around such children be aware when something unusual is happening.
