Editing Unification Church (section)

=== United States ===
On [[Thanksgiving]] 1979, the parents of 28-year-old Thomas Ward conspired with 31 other people to kidnap him (for the second time) and hold him captive for 35 days. He suffered verbal and physical abuse in attempts to "de-program" him of his religious beliefs. Attempts failed and 33 people heard the verdict on the crimes of [[Criminal conspiracy|conspiracy]], [[Battery (crime)|battery]], [[false imprisonment]], [[intentional infliction of emotional distress]], and [[Larceny|grand larceny]]. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on April 18, 1980, that federal civil rights laws protect against religious discrimination. The judgment contradicted the (then common) "parental immunity" principle in such cases.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ward v. Connor, 495 F. Supp. 434 |url=https://casetext.com/case/ward-v-connor |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240407003320/https://casetext.com/case/ward-v-connor |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 7, 2024 |access-date=April 7, 2024 |website=Casetext }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=March 2, 2024 |title=Court Rules Rights Laws Protect Against Religious Discrimination |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1981/08/14/court-rules-rights-laws-protect-against-religious-discrimination/caba88e2-4477-464a-9147-b7276acbc774/ |access-date=April 7, 2024 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> Thomas J. Ward graduated in 1981 from the [[Unification Theological Seminary]] and in 2019 became its president.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History – HJI International |url=https://hji.edu/history/ |access-date=April 7, 2024 |website=hji.edu}}</ref> In 1991, [[Carlton Sherwood]] in his book [[Inquisition: The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon]] accused Congress, courts, state agencies, and the press of "worst kind of religious prejudice and racial bigotry" against the church, its leaders and followers as determined attempt to erase the church from the United States.<ref name=":5" />