If you thought America was the only country where a bogus religion like Scientology could thrive, you were wrong. Japan has its own version, it’s called Happy Science, and it apparently offers spiritual Covid-19 cures, for a fee, of course. Happy Science is the creation of a Wall Street trader turned spiritual leader named Ryuho Okawa, who during the 1990s came to believe that he was in contact with religious figures like Buddha and Jesus. They apparently told Okawa that like them and others throughout human history, he was the reincarnation of a creator god from Venus named El Cantare and had been chosen to save the world from ruin. He wrote a couple of popular books on metaphysical subjects, entitled  “The Terrifying Revelations of Nostradamus” and “The Great Warnings of Allah,” and before he knew it, the former trader had a sizeable following.

Image by Jan Alexander from Pixabay 

From UFOs to demonic ward and lost civilizations, the doctrine of Happy Science is a very colorful and controversial one. If in the beginning, Ryuho Okawa claimed to channel the spirits of famous religious leaders, now he supposedly channels hundreds of personalities, dead and alive, like Freddie Mercury, Barack Obama and Steve Jobs. Hardly unsurprising, considering that he is supposed to be the latest reincarnation of an all powerful extraterrestrial being. At least that’s what he and his followers believe, anyway. The number of Happy Science members is a very controversial topic. While the organization boasts about 11 million members around the world, its critics say the real number is much lower. One thing that no one contests those is the profitability of Okawa’s religious movement, with some sources claiming that Happy Science rakes in about $45 million a year.

 

Okawa’s books, of which he has published around 2,000 so far, are an important source of revenue, but like Scientology, Happy Science supposedly has a “tiered, pay-to-progress system of membership” and also offers some controversial paid products as well. Which leads us to this religion’s answer to the Covid-19 pandemic – virus-related blessings priced at several hundreds of dollars. It all started in January with Ryuho Okawa’s claim to receive messages from a trio of extraterrestrials, as well as the spirits of Chinese leaders like Xi Jinping, and the guardian angels of Boris Johnson, John Lennon and Angela Merkel, about the origin of the novel coronavirus…

Apparently, the highly contagious virus was created as a bioweapon by the Chinese government in Wuhan, but ended up being unleashed by a U.F.O. to punish the communists, and then spread to other godless countries where it continues to wreak havoc. But on the plus side, Happy Science had the cure for the Covid-19 disease – its leader was a supreme being after all – and would share it with the world, for a fee. First, Ryuho Okawa quickly published three booklets entitled Spiritual Reading of Novel Coronavirus Infection Originated in China which have since been translated in several languages and are available online. Then, DVDs and CDs of the spiritual leader lecturing on the topic of Covid-19 were put on sale (they say Okawa’s voice alone is able to boost the listeners’ immune system).

 

Finally, for an even greater protective and curative effect, Okawa introduced special blessings designed specifically for Covid-19. They were originally conducted in private at Happy Science locations, in exchange for donations between $100 and $400. “It’s amazing, we’re seeing people being cured,” Yushi Hagimoto, a Happy Science minister in New York, told The New York Times. Sadly, the temple had to close down due to the increasing number of cases in the Big Apple, but the church is still offering to perform the spiritual blessings remotely…

 

Interestingly, one of the greatest critics of Happy Science is Ryuho Okawa’s own son, Hiroshi, once hailed as his successor. “He claimed to have received the ‘messages of God,’ he relentlessly lied to his followers,” Okawa’s son said. “I believe what my father does is complete nonsense.”

 

Both Hiroshi and his mother left Happy Science years ago. In turn, Ryuho Okawa has denounced his family as demonic. He has since remarried.