Battle for Survival: 4,536 Days in Captivity
TORU GOTO
The True Story of Religious Persecution in Japan
"LET'S GO." With these words, 31-year-old Toru Goto is grabbed, rushed into a waiting van, and spirited away to a high-rise apartment room. He is cut off from his job, his fiancée and his normal life for twelve years and five months.
Shockingly, his captors are his parents and siblings, who have decided to force Mr. Goto to recant his belief in the Divine Principle of the Unification Church. This harrowing, true story involves beatings, verbal abuse, and even starvation-when Mr. Goto was finally set free at age 44, he looked like an emaciated WWII prison-camp survivor. He spends years battling Japan's court system to pursue justice and have the reprehensible deprogramming practices declared illegal.
"If you're going to read only one book about deprogramming, make it this one. Goto's story reveals the real truth about this unconscionable practice. It is one of the gravest offenses against freedom, religious liberty, and conscience."
Massimo Introvigne, Sociologist and former Representative of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) for combating racism, xenophobia, and religious intolerance
"How can a witch hunt turn family members into confiners and torturers? This must-read shows us a path of the cross to freedom, strewn with trials marked by hope and religious faith, and the unfailing integrity of its author to cling to his innermost certainties beyond loneliness and despair." — Patricia Duval, Attorney and member of the Paris Bar, France, who specializes in international human rights law
A shocking yet profoundly important testimony to the consequences of the denial of human dignity and religious freedom. Toru Goto's years of unlawful captivity for his beliefs reveal the tragic reality of coercive deprogramming in a democratic society. Battle for Survival is not only a testimony-it is a call to action. — Dr. Ján Figeľ, Former EU Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB); President of FOREF Europe
The Washington Times Global Media Group
5.5 x 8.5 inches
Paperback
248 pages
