Photo/Illutration Education minister Keiko Nagaoka on Oct. 26 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The education ministry has concluded that it can exercise the right to question the Unification Church and open an investigation into the religious organization’s dubious activities.

Keiko Nagaoka, the education minister, will announce the decision by the end of the week. The ministry is expected to consult the Religious Corporations Council about the contents of the questioning by the end of the month.

It will be the first time for the government to exercise the right to question a religious corporation.

On Nov. 8, a panel of experts set up by the Cultural Affairs Agency, which is under the ministry’s jurisdiction, drafted standards for the right to question the church.

According to the standards, the right to question can be exercised if the religious corporation or a member has repeatedly conducted acts recognized as illegal under either civil or criminal law.

The ministry concluded the church meets the standards because civil court rulings have confirmed organized illegal acts by the Unification Church in two cases.

In addition, courts have held the group or people with control or supervisory roles in the organization accountable in 20 cases.

The right to question was incorporated in the revised Religious Corporations Law, which went into force in 1996, a year after the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult’s deadly sarin gas attack on Tokyo’s subway system.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Oct. 17 that the government will exercise the right to question the Unification Church, which is now formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.

After investigating the church and collecting materials, the ministry will decide on whether to seek a court order for the church to be dissolved under the Religious Corporation Law.

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