Japan Gives Cold Shoulder to the Scandal-hit Unification Church

The scandal-hit Unification Church, known for its mass weddings, is fighting for its survival after the Japanese government requested a court order to dissolve the religious group in the country.

The group has been facing growing backlash amid allegation that it preyed on vulnerable members of society and manipulated its members into donating large sums of money, harming their families in the process. The church is accused of pressuring members to borrow funds or sell property to finance donations.

In its submission to the court, the Ministry of Education stated that the Unification Church had abused its legal status as a religious corporation to wrongfully obtain property that deviated from its original purpose. If the courts find the church in violation of the Freedom of Religion Act, it risks losing religious tax breaks as well as all of its assets, including places of worship and training centers.

The Japan branch of the South Korean-based church condemned the legal filing. In an official statement, it called the government's decision “regrettable” and a “stain in Japan’s constitutional history.” The lawyers for the Unification Church called the move a violation of religious freedoms and human rights.

The Unification Church maintains that all donations have been in line with the doctrine of the group and the law.

The assassination of Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Abe Shinzo, in July 2022 exposed the Unification Church’s deep ties in domestic politics. The suspect, Yamagami Tetsuya, viewed the church as responsible for brainwashing his mother into taking on large sums of debt, causing the family to become destitute. Yamagami said he shot Abe because he believed the former prime minster was affiliated with the church.

Yamagami has since been charged with murder and is being held in detention, where he faces the death penalty.

The assassination sent shockwaves through Japanese society, with the majority of the public hearing of the Unification Church for the first time. In the wake of the assassination, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) came under public scrutiny for its involvement with the religious group, which shares a hawkish, anti-communist ideology with the Japanese ruling party. As investigations proceeded, almost 50 percent of party members admitted to having had dealings with the church.

This triggered Prime Minister Kishida Fumio to reshuffle his Cabinet, removing a number of lawmakers who had engaged with the group. However, lawmakers with ties to the Unification Church remain in the LDP, as it is believed that a deep purge would not only risk destabilizing political factions within the LDP but also empty out the party.

The Kishida administration has been facing growing pressure to address the damage caused by the Unification Church. In response, it launched an investigation into the religious practices of the church. By September it had opened a victim hotline that fielded 1,700 queries. A government-backed expert panel interviewed 170 former church members who revealed their experiences of brainwashing, threats, and intimidation. The victims accused the church of malicious donation practices and political fundraising tactics as well as spiritual scams in which cheap objects, advertised as bringing good fortune, are sold at hefty prices.

Japan’s National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales says the Unification Church has been involved in over 30,000 incidents involving spiritual scams between 1987 to 2021. For years the group has been urging an investigation into the “cult-like” church but with little success. They have also been actively campaigning for the Unification Church’s dissolution.

In November 2022, a group of lawyers across Japan formed an organization for victims of the Unification Church. It is seeking compensation and efforts to stop the church from extorting money from members.

In January a law for the Prevention of Improper Solicitation of Donations came into effect, limiting the ways religious groups can accept donations. The Unification Church says it no longer accepts donations that cause financial hardship and has cut back on spiritual sales. But many lawyers say the latest legislation came too little, too late for the many victims.