arrives in their small Georgia town, earned seven

This still happens today, with the observance of rituals unchanged since the 16th century.The group leader in the Ikitsuki area is called Oji, which means father or elderly man in Japanese. Members take turns in the role, presiding over baptisms, funerals and ceremonies for New Year, Christmas and local festivals.

Different communities worship different icons and have different ways of performing the rituals.In Sotome, for instance, people prayed to a statue of what they called Maria Kannon, a genderless Bodhisattva of mercy, as a substitute for Mary.In Ibaragi, where about 18,000 residents embraced Christianity in the 1580s, a lacquer bowl with a cross painted on it, a statue of the crucified Christ and an ivory statue of Mary were found hidden in what was called “a box not to be opened.”

Many Hidden Christians rejected Catholicism after the persecution ended because Catholic priests refused to recognize them as real Christians unless they agreed to be rebaptized and abandon the Buddhist altars that their ancestors used.“They are very proud of what they and their ancestors have believed in” for hundreds of years, even at the risk of their lives, said Emi Mase-Hasegawa, a religion studies professor at J.F. Oberlin University in Tokyo.

Masatsugu Tanimoto, a farmer and a community leader who is one of only hundreds of so-called “hidden” Christians on the island of Ikitsuki, speaks at his home in Ikitsuki Island in Hirado, southern Japan, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Masatsugu Tanimoto, a farmer and a community leader who is one of only hundreds of so-called “hidden” Christians on the island of Ikitsuki, speaks at his home in Ikitsuki Island in Hirado, southern Japan, Sunday, April 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)Soliman’s attorney, Kathryn Herold, declined to comment after a state court hearing Monday. Public defenders’ policy prohibits speaking to the media.

The attack unfolded against the backdrop of the, which has contributed to a spike in antisemitic violence in the United States. It happened at the beginning of the

and barely a week after a man who also yelled “Free Palestine” was charged withoutside a Jewish museum in Washington.