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Date: April 16, 2020 11:59AM
https://www.nytimes.com/article/happy-science-japan-coronavirus-cure.htmlWhen New York went into lockdown last month, emissaries of a religious group called Happy Science showed up in a ghostly Times Square to deliver a peculiar end-of-days gospel. They wore ritual golden sashes and huddled in a semicircle.
“Doomsday may seem to be coming,” a young minister said.
“But the greatest savior,” he continued, “our master, is here on earth.”
One or two passers-by lingered, taking in the gloomy scene. Of the few people who were on the street, most rushed past.
None of this was as haphazard as it seemed.
Happy Science is an enormous and powerful enterprise claiming millions of adherents and tens of thousands of missionary outposts across the world. Secretive, hostile to the media, and structured around a tiered, pay-to-progress system of membership, they’re sometimes called Tokyo’s answer to Scientology.
“To many,” The Japan Times wrote in 2009, “the Happies smell suspiciously like a cult.”
The coronavirus pandemic has proved to be a perfect vehicle for the religion’s apocalyptic themes and esoteric doctrines. Its many, many texts are filled with U.F.O.s, lost continents and demonic warfare; now they detail the supernatural and extraterrestrial origins of the virus.
And in addition to the new DVDs, CDs and books for sale, Happy Science is offering “spiritual vaccines” — for a fee, the faithful can be blessed with a ritual prayer to ward off and cure the disease.
In Times Square, the minister wrapped up his speech with a special incantation. He lifted his arms and chopped them to and fro, shouting as he went. His flock cheered and waved homemade placards.
One read, “Happy Science Knows the Truth!”