"The Japanese government decided Thursday to seek a court order to dissolve the Unification Church after a nearly yearlong probe into the controversial group over its history of coercing members into making large donations, culture minister Masahito Moriyama said. With the order, the church will be stripped of its religious corporation status and associated tax benefits, but can continue to exist as a group and conduct activities in Japan.

The government has judged the church has engaged in financially damaging donation solicitation, Moriyama told reporters, adding the group has been ordered by the courts to pay as much as 20 billion yen in compensation to around 1,550 victims. The Unification Church has inflicted suffering on many people and violated civil law, which 'deviated from the intended purpose of a religious corporation,' said the education, culture, sports, science and technology minister."

https://japantoday.com/category/national/Japan-decides-to-strip-Unification-Church%27s-religious-corporation-status

Will the Mormon church come under scrutiny in Japan as well?

One can only hope so.

Good !

Let's hope the restored church as the Mormons are calling themselves now (easier to say than TCOJCOLDS every time) get kicked in their posterior.

It comes out to $85k per victim on average. That's about right for tithing money.

I've mixed feelings about this. I am not a fan of the Moonies at all, but when the government starts interfering in religion, it is NOT a good sign either. I believe in religious freedom,which includes the freedom to leave a religion without harassment (unlike Scientology), but also the right to believe in stupid things. If a church practices human sacrifice or child marriage, then the government should intervene perhaps, but this is not a good precedent. Always remember that the government is not your friend. The Japanese government certainly isn't — it's efficient but notoriously corrupt. Governments that interfere heavily in people's private religious affairs are either dictatorships or on the road to becoming one.

Also remember there is another potential problem here. The Moonies are very much a Korean church (Korea is built into their theology). Plus Koreans and Korea have been ill treated by Japan (to say the least). Japan refuses to apologize for atrocities in Korea, and ethnic Koreans in Japan have a hard time. This will be interpreted or promoted in some quarters as an anti-Korean move.

I doubt anyone here has thought of this angle, but it will be brought into play. Guaranteed.

The Unification Church is still allowed to operate in Japan. It is just being denied certain privileges including a tax write-off. I like that countries are starting to deny these misused privileges to churches (Australia also denies a tax write off unless the money is going to a genuine charity. Churches per se are not considered charities there.)

I think that the Japanese government is sending a strong message that there are limits as to what they will tolerate. They are not going to allow churches to extort huge sums of money from their members. I don't see that as being a bad thing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2023 09:38AM by summer.

Religious freedom should have some exceptions. I don't agree that anything that is part of your behavior should be accepted just because it is written into the framework of a religion's belief system. Jihad for one example.

If a religion isn't completely transparent about their financial dealings is another.