By TAKASHI TOGO/ Staff Writer
September 13, 2022 at 17:08 JST
A building housing the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, more commonly known as the Unification Church, in Tokyo (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The Agency for Cultural Affairs, which holds jurisdiction over religious institutions, is currently not considering issuing a dissolution order to the Unification Church, an agency official said.
“There are no cases in which Unification Church executives have been punished for violations of the criminal law and other laws,” the official said at a hearing organized by opposition parties on Sept. 12.
The Religious Institutions Law stipulates that a court can order the dissolution of a religious institution upon the request of the education ministry, the upper organization of the cultural agency, or other concerned parties if it violates laws or ordinances and commits acts that substantially harm public welfare.
At the hearing, the official noted that only two religious institutions in Japan had received dissolution orders.
One was the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult that carried out the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system and other crimes. The other was the Myokakuji temple group whose leader and executives were accused of defrauding followers through exorbitant fees paid for memorial services for departed souls.
A number of civil lawsuits have been filed over the Unification Church’s “reikan shoho,” or spiritual sales, of goods or services claimed to bring supernatural benefits to the buyers.
After the church changed its name to the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification in 2015, some people have said they made substantial donations to the group without knowing that it is actually the Unification Church.
The church came under the spotlight again after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead during campaign speech in Nara on July 8.
The suspected gunman said he bore a grudge against the Unification Church because his mother made large donations to the group that destroyed his family and his life.
He told investigators he targeted Abe because the veteran lawmaker was known to have ties with the church.
Ex-member: Church used close-knit circle to lure followers
August 29, 2022
Candidate picked by Abe won seat with Unification Church backing
August 7, 2022
Politicians come out with dealings with Unification Church
July 26, 2022
Name change by Unification Church a baffling issue years later
August 3, 2022
People born into Unification Church speak out about hardships
July 25, 2022
Unification Church: Murder suspect’s mother still a member
July 12, 2022
Stories about memories of cherry blossoms solicited from readers
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
A series on the death of a Japanese woman that sparked a debate about criminal justice policy in the United States
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
