Photo/Illutration A former Unification Church member, right, submits a petition on Dec. 9 to an education ministry official asking for the dissolution of the church. (Pool)

The Unification Church accused the education ministry of abuse of power in a growing row over the organization’s operations and finances.

Now formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, the church has found itself called to account in the first exercise of power by the ministry to question a religious corporation.

The tussle between the two parties is heating up after the ministry decided to send more questions on the organization’s setup even before carefully evaluating responses it received Dec. 9 to an earlier set of questions.

Documents from the church filled eight cardboard boxes.

Ministry officials said the new set of questions would focus on a different aspect of the church’s operations.

Sources said the Unification Church has submitted opinion papers to the ministry on several occasions asserting abuse of the provisions of the law under which religious corporations can be questioned or required to submit reports.

As required by that law, ministry officials will ask the Religious Corporations Council, an advisory panel, to approve sending a new set of questions. That is due to happen on Dec. 14.

According to ministry officials, the new questions will be based on documents provided by lawyers who helped people whose lives were severely affected by huge donations made to the Unification Church by their family members.

The ministry sent the first list of questions on Nov. 22, the first time any religious corporation has received such materials. The move marks the first step in the process of deciding whether to dissolve a religious organization.

According to sources, the Unification Church on Nov. 24 submitted its first opinion paper that claimed it should not be subject to the questioning, pointing to a 1995 ruling by the Tokyo High Court that approved the dissolution of Aum Shinrikyo, which was behind the deadly sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system that year.

The high court determined that Aum Shinrikyo had violated criminal law. But the opinion paper by the Unification Church noted that the church has never been charged with criminal violations and thus should not be subject to questioning.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also had a change of heart on the issue of whether civil law violations should be considered when moving against a religious organization.

In October, he said during Diet questioning that civil law violations would not be taken into consideration, only to change his stance completely the very next day.

In a separate opinion submitted on Dec. 2, the Unification Church again cited the 1995 Tokyo High Court ruling as its basis for arguing it should not have to respond to ministry questions. The high court ruling concluded that criminal acts by a religious organization referred to activities carried out by high-ranking officials of Aum Shinrikyo.

The Unification Church contended that it was responsible as the “employer” of rank-and-file church members in court rulings that ordered it to pay compensation, but noted that courts have not ruled that church executives were involved in any crimes.

Court rulings in 2016 and 2017 found the Unification Church guilty of legal violations. However, they did not refer to the actions of church executives, according to the Unification Church opinion paper.

Opposition lawmakers have called for submission to the courts of a request before the year-end for a dissolution order targeting the Unification Church.

However, the new set of questions means the church will have to be given appropriate time to respond.

Moreover, the education ministry will likely be inundated with opinion papers submitted by the church, making early dissolution of the organization difficult.

In a related development, former Unification Church members submitted a document Dec. 9 addressed to Keiko Nagaoka, the education minister, asking that a request be submitted with the courts for an order to dissolve the church. 

The document included a petition with a total of 204,588 signatures, including those gathered through the internet, that favored the move.

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