![]() The Unification church has denied any wrongdoing and promised to prevent “excessive” donations from members. Under Japan’s religious corporations law, a court can issue a dissolution order if an organisation has committed acts that are “clearly recognised as being substantially detrimental to public welfare”. ![]() In response, Kishida ordered party members to cut their links with the church and launched an investigation that focused on how it raised money to fund its activities around the globe. In the months after Abe’s death, reports emerged of the church’s close ties with politicians, including a large number of MPs belonging to the ruling Liberal Democratic party. The suspect in Abe’s assassination, Tetsuya Yamagami, said he blamed the church for bankrupting his family after his mother, a member, donated more than 100m yen to the group two decades ago. While not a member, Abe had sent messages of support to events connected to the church, which is thought to raise about 10bn yen (£55m) a year in Japan, where it claims to have 100,000 active members.Ībe’s grandfather, the former prime minister Nobusuke Kishi, was instrumental in helping the church establish a presence in Japan in the late 1950s to counter the growing influence of communism and trade unionism. The church, formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, came under scrutiny after Abe was shot dead in July 2022 by a man who said he held a grievance against the politician over his ties to the church. We need to make sure the order is carried out.” The church said in a statement it was “extremely regrettable that the government made such an important decision based on biased information from a leftwing group of lawyers established with the goal of destroying our corporation” – an apparent reference to the National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales, which represents people who claim they have suffered financial damage because of the church.Ī former church member, who posts online under an alias, said the government’s legal move had “been a long time coming”. “It has impinged on people’s freedoms for a long time, prevented them from making sound decisions, severely damaged them and disrupted their lives,” the education minister, Masahito Moriyama, said shortly before the request was filed. The prime minister, Fumio Kishida, and his cabinet decided this week to ask the court to take action after a year-long investigation into the church’s activities, including claims that it put pressure on members into donating huge sums of money as they sought forgiveness for their “sins”. ![]() ![]() However, it could continue to operate in a new incarnation, enabling it to recruit members and solicit donations, media reports said. ![]()
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