Based on an article from the Sekai Nippo
On March 26, the "Second-Generation Association to Protect Believers' Human Rights," made up of active second-generation believers of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (Family Federation, formerly the Unification Church), along with the "Association of Experts Seeking Fair and Impartial Trials" (Experts' Association) founded by lawyers and academics, held a press conference in Tokyo.
The following is a summary of remarks made by the experts.
"The High Court Made Forceful Conclusions Without Basis" Representative Convener of the Experts' Association, International Attorney: Tatsuki Nakayama
Nakayama details that the number of cases where the Family Federation was found guilty of civil wrongdoings has been nearly nonexistent since the organization signed a compliance declaration in 2009 — reduced to a ratio of 1 in 397. However, despite the Tokyo High Court affirming that wrongdoings by the organization since 2009 "cannot be confirmed with certainty," the court arbitrarily began to use language like "should constitute illegal acts." Nakayama argues, this meant that the court used its own discretion to deem potential acts of misconduct as confirmed illegal acts without any legal basis in court.
Nakayama then goes on the compare this situation of the Family Federation to that of Iwao Hakamata, who fought a wrongful conviction for 58 years. Hakamata was a Japanese professional boxer who was arrested in 1966 and sentenced to death in 1968 after being wrongfully convicted of quadruple murder. Fortunately, he was granted retrial in 2024 where the court found that evidence against Hakamata had been falsified. Nakayama suggests the idea that the Family Federation may be made to suffer even more than that and questions whether that would truly be acceptable.
"A Deception Based on the Ministry of Education's Propaganda" Attorney: Shin'ichi Tokunaga
Tokunaga describes that the greatest trick in the High Court's ruling lies in its deceptive framing that stripping the Family Federation of its legal corporate status does not infringe upon the religious freedom of its believers. He argues that this is based on the Ministry of Education's propaganda to enable dissolution of the organization. However, Tokunaga states that religious freedom is not limited to the freedom of inner belief. Religious freedom is said to be the starting point of all human rights. The freedom to gather together and affirm one's faith is a fundamental precondition of religious freedom.
In contrast, Karl Marx criticized religion as "opium" in his "Critique of the Gotha Programme." This is a strategic religious-policy ideology aimed at socially suppressing religion. The High Court's ruling is captured by this very set of values.
The dissolution request was processed as a non-contentious case, conducted in closed session, on the grounds that it merely constituted the stripping of corporate status. Even when fabrications and falsifications were found in the written statements submitted by the Ministry of Education, the non-public nature of the proceedings was exploited to avoid any accountability. This is nothing less than the collapse of the judiciary and a violation of human rights — as is clear from the perspective of international human rights law.
Tokunaga finishes by stating, “Even the most sophisticated human-rights theories and procedural safeguards can collapse because of a single serious mistake (’like an ant-hole creating a crack in a dam’).” No matter how beautiful the constitutional theory looks on paper, if there is even one critical flaw in the implementation of the legal framework, the whole system of rights protection can fall apart.
"The High Court Encroached Upon Doctrine" Professor, Kanazawa University: Masaki Nakamasa
What struck Nakamasa upon reading the Tokyo High Court's decision was that the court offered its own independent interpretation of the Family Federation's doctrines and used that interpretation to justify the dissolution order. Nakamasa explains that the interpretation of doctrine is something only the believers themselves can know; it is a foundational principle of modern law to refrain from legal intrusion and to maintain neutrality in evaluating doctrine.
Even in the Soka Gakkai "board mandala" case (1981) and in the Tokyo subway sarin attack by Aum Shinrikyo (1996), the courts did not interfere with doctrine. Meaning, although there was real criminal offense for harm caused to the public, the courts could not deem the believers doctrine to be true or false. Nakamasa argues that for the state to independently interpret the teachings of a religious organization without hearing the views of its members, and to issue a ruling with serious consequences for believers' futures based on that interpretation, is no different from the logic of the Inquisition in pre-modern Europe. I fear that, just as with the forced dissolution of Ōmoto-kyō (a fast-growing, anti-war religious group in early 1900s Japan), arbitrary interpretations could lead to the destruction of physical facilities as well.
"Have the Imagination to Consider What Could Happen" Literary Critic: Eitarō Ogawa
Ogawa points, “It has long been said that ‘this is merely the dissolution of a religious corporation and in no way infringes upon the religious freedom of individual believers,’ but isn't this situation [reports of harm to believers] the answer? Please understand that behind these voices [questionnaire report from 2000 believers] stand tens of thousands more. If we allow such rhetoric, then even if a corporation or company is destroyed while claiming to protect the human rights of each individual employee, there is no way those rights can actually be protected. Once this kind of rhetoric is permitted, I want people — beyond just the matter of the Family Federation — to have the imagination to consider what could happen next.
"Those Who Have Had Contact with Believers Are Sympathetic" Non-Fiction Author: Masumi Fukuda
After the High Court's ruling was issued and the liquidation of the organization began, Fukuda shares that she interviewed staff at the churches and listened to their stories. When they needed to move their personal belongings out but couldn't even find a place to park, a longtime landlord who had been renting his parking lot to the church offered them the use of a parking space in an apartment building he managed. At that time, the landlord told them: "You haven't done anything wrong. Why did things end up this way? Hang in there." At other churches as well, people who have had long contact with believers are sympathetic. That is the answer.
"At the Root: Discrimination and Exclusion" Writer: Fumihiro Katō
Kato describes that the very origin of the issues surrounding the Family Federation lies in the media coverage that followed the Abe incident. A narrative took shape portraying Yamagami Tetsuya, the assailant of former Primer Minister Shinzo Abe, as a tragic second-generation religious child. Additionally, there was reporting on politicians with "deeply entangled relationships" with the organization that continued for more than two months. People exposed to this coverage were stirred into intense hatred toward the relationship between the organization and politics.
However, what was actually perceived as the mood of society was, once you stripped away the ferocity of the media coverage, nothing more than the frenzy manufactured by a very small fraction of the public.
Was it not the Kishida administration and the Liberal Democratic Party — pressured by the social atmosphere — that turned toward dissolving the Family Federation's corporate status as a way to deflect criticism? This closely resembles the past conduct of media organizations, politicians, and society that segregated Hansen's disease patients, enacted the Eugenic Protection Law, and continued to condone forced sterilization of people with disabilities. One cannot but say that triggering the path to a dissolution order was an error.
At the root lies discrimination and exclusion. The abduction, confinement, forced apostasy, and ideological re-education of believers have been condoned, and thousands of people have been victimized in the past. Going forward, there is a high likelihood that such acts will be further legitimized.