Tokyo, Japan
The Gentleman Report
—
Japan’s govt on Friday requested a court docket to reserve the dissolution of the Unification Church department in Japan following the assassination of former Eastern high minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022.
The federal government’s transfer comes after a months-long probe into the church, officially identified in Japan because the Circle of relatives Federation for Global Peace and Unification.
The investigation adopted claims by way of the suspected shooter, Tetsuya Yamagami, that he fatally shot Abe as a result of he believed the chief used to be related to the church, which Yamagami blamed for bankrupting his circle of relatives throughout the over the top donations of his mom, a member.
Previous in January, Eastern prosecutors indicted Yamagami on homicide and firearm fees.
The federal government’s investigation concluded that the gang’s practices – together with fund-raising actions that allegedly careworn fans to make exorbitant donations – violated the 1951 Spiritual Companies Act.
That legislation lets in Eastern courts to reserve the dissolution of a non secular crew if it has dedicated an act “obviously discovered to hurt public welfare considerably.”
The Tokyo District Court docket will now make a judgment in accordance with the proof submitted by way of the federal government, in line with Japan’s public broadcaster NHK.
That is the 3rd time the Eastern govt has sought a dissolution order for a non secular crew accused of violating the act.
It additionally sought to dissolve the Aum Shinrikyo cult, after a few of its individuals performed a dangerous 1995 sarin fuel assault at the Tokyo subway device, which left dozens useless and hundreds injured, and Myokaku-ji Temple, whose clergymen defrauded other folks by way of charging them for exorcisms. The courts dominated with the federal government on each orders.
The Unification Church in Japan has again and again denied any wrongdoing, pledging reform and labeling the inside track protection in opposition to it as “biased” and “faux.”
On Thursday, it issued a observation, pronouncing it used to be “very regrettable” that the federal government used to be in quest of the dissolution order, in particular because it were “operating on reforming the church” since 2009. It added that it could make criminal counterarguments in opposition to the order in court docket.
If disbanded, the Unification Church, based by way of the Reverend Solar Myung Moon in South Korea in 1954, would lose its standing as a non secular company in Japan and be disadvantaged of tax advantages. On the other hand, it would nonetheless perform as a company entity.
Professionals argue that an order to disband the gang utterly may take years to procedure and may even chance pushing the entity’s actions underground.
04:11 – Supply: The Gentleman Report
Police have idea about what motivated Shinzo Abe homicide suspect
The Unification Church was identified international for mass weddings, during which hundreds of {couples} get married concurrently, with some brides and grooms assembly their betrothed for the primary time on their marriage ceremony day.
Public scrutiny of the church in Japan greater after Abe used to be fatally shot all through an election marketing campaign speech final July.
Abe’s alleged assailant informed police that his circle of relatives were ruined on account of the large donations his mom made to a non secular crew, which he alleged had shut ties to the overdue former high minister, in line with NHK.
A spokesperson for the Unification Church showed to journalists in Tokyo that the suspect’s mom used to be a member, Reuters reported, however mentioned neither Abe nor the suspected killer have been individuals.
Following Abe’s dying native media carried a sequence of news claiming more than a few different lawmakers of the rustic’s ruling celebration had hyperlinks to the church, prompting Top Minister Fumio Kishida to reserve an investigation.
Kishida informed journalists Thursday that ruling celebration lawmakers had reduce ties with the devout crew, amid considerations that the Unification Church were looking to wield political affect.
Since final November, Japan’s Ministry of Cultural Affairs has wondered and sought to procure paperwork from the Unification Church whilst additionally amassing testimonies from round 170 individuals who say they have been careworn into making large donations identified in Japan as “non secular gross sales.”
The follow comes to asking fans to shop for gadgets like urns and amulets at the grounds that doing so will appease their ancestors and save long term generations, in line with Sakurai Yoshihid, a non secular research knowledgeable at Hokkaido College.
The Gentleman Report has contacted the Unification Church for an legitimate remark however has now not but heard again.
This isn’t the primary time the Unification Church has been on the heart of an issue.
Naomi Honma, a former Unification Church member, informed The Gentleman Report that between 1991 and 2003, she labored on a criminal case known as “Give Us Again Our Formative years,” a lawsuit that alleged the Unification Church had used misleading and manipulative ways to recruit unsuspecting individuals of the general public.
This, they argued, had the possible to violate the liberty of idea and sense of right and wrong upheld by way of Article 20 of Japan’s charter.
After a 14-year trial, more than one plaintiff testimonies and a 999-page file outlining the “thoughts regulate” means of the gang, the trial had its second.
The Sapporo District Court docket made a landmark ruling in want of 20 former Unification Church individuals who had sued the gang as a part of the case. It ordered the Unification Church to pay more or less 29.5 million yen ($200,000) in damages for recruiting and indoctrinating other folks “whilst hiding the church’s true id” and for “coercing some former individuals into buying pricey pieces and donating huge quantities of cash.”
In a separate controversy, between 1987 and 2021, the Unification Church in Japan incurred claims for damages over the sale of amulets and urns that totaled round $1 billion, in line with the Nationwide Legal professionals Community in opposition to Non secular Gross sales – a bunch established in 1987 particularly to oppose the Unification Church.
Nobutaka Inoue, a professional on fresh Eastern faith at Kokugakuin College, is significant of the ways utilized by the church to recruit and lift budget. On the other hand, he additionally notes that a few of its individuals felt satisfied and at peace after making donations to the Unification Church.
Some critics of the Unification Church say the federal government’s movements don’t pass a long way sufficient as it would nonetheless perform as a non-religious crew. One possibility for the federal government can be to hunt a court docket order stripping the church of its company standing, too, however professionals say that would take as much as two years to procedure.
Sakurai, the devout research knowledgeable, cautioned that if the Unification Church loses its standing as a non secular company, it could now not be underneath the regulate of Japan’s Ministry of Schooling and Cultural Affairs, making it tougher to keep watch over its actions.
Sakurai pointed to the case of Aum, noting that when the sarin fuel assault the Eastern govt revoked popularity of the gang as a non secular group however persisted to keep watch over it thru a brand new legislation handed in 1999 that approved persisted police surveillance of its actions.
However making a brand new legislation that will permit the federal government to proceed to observe over the Unification Church’s actions – despite the fact that one may well be handed – would now not paintings as smartly, Sakurai warned.
“(Aum) best numbers over 1,200 individuals or so; then again, the Unification Church has penetrated many layers of Japan’s society – some individuals are housewives, some paintings in factories, others are lecturers, so the police can’t watch all of the actions or actions of the Unification Church,” Sakurai mentioned.
Some professionals say Japan must do extra to coach the general public about non-traditional religions, which some see as having a emerging affect in society.
Kimiaki Nishida, a social psychologist and chairman of the Japan Society for Cult Prevention and Restoration (JSCPR), identified that state and faith have been separated in Japan following Global Warfare II, and the brand new charter forbade instructing devout research in school.
This made faith necessarily a taboo subject, Nishida mentioned, and to at the moment, devout training isn’t supplied at fundamental, junior, or prime faculties in Japan, in contrast to in maximum EU member states.
This, in line with Toshiyuki Tachikake, a professor at Osaka College focusing on cult countermeasures since 2009, has left scholars – in particular at college campuses – at risk of being careworn into recruitment.
He and different professionals say extra will have to be performed to coach younger Eastern about faith.
“We’d like devout training in faculties. Giving anyone a wide figuring out of various religions and their teachings lets them make an educated choice on whether or not they would like to sign up for a definite crew if a recruiter ever approached them,” mentioned Tachikake.
