Regarding the exercise of the "right to question" of the former Unification Church, it was learned for the first time that lawyers for the religious group repeatedly sent letters to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) asking them not to request a dissolution order based on court precedents of cases that occurred in other religious groups. On the other hand, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) states that "the application does not affect the judgment of the request" and will make a decision after scrutinizing the answers to the "right to ask questions."
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) is exercising the "right to question" to investigate the operation of the church and the flow of funds in order to determine the request for dissolution order to the former Unification Church, the "Family Federation for World Peace and Unification".
Under these circumstances, it was found that a lawyer who received a request from the former Unification Church to investigate sent a request to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology four times from December last year to February this year, asking that the request not be made.
The proposal rejects all three elements of organizationality, maliciousness, and continuity that the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) considers as requirements for the request.
As for the egregiousness, he cites several cases in which members of another religious organization were convicted of causing the death of a believer in a group assault and did not receive a dissolution order, claiming that "the Family Federation has never had such a case."
With regard to continuity, it argues that there have been no cases of civil court proceedings in the last seven years or so, and that in terms of organization, it has not made detailed findings of fact, such as the involvement of senior officials, in the judgment of a civil court that admitted the torts of the cult.
This is the first time that we have learned of the Order's specific claims regarding the request for a dissolution order.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) has stated that it has made appropriate decisions based on the circumstances of other religious corporations that have had incidents in the past, and the content of the application does not affect the judgment on this request, and will judge the request for dissolution based on the response to the "right to question", ▽ the judgment of the civil court that recognized the illegal act of the cult, and ▽ the recent consultation situation received at the national office.
Expert familiar with the Religious Corporations Act: "The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) should investigate responsibly"
Hajime Tachika, a professor at University who is familiar with the Religious Corporation Law, commented on the former Unification Church's arguments, saying, "The idea of considering a balance with past cases is not incomprehensible, but it seems that some of the past cases presented by the religious group are not necessarily suitable as a comparison when considering this issue, and the persuasiveness may be somewhat questionable. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) will determine whether it is necessary to request a dissolution order based on the information obtained through the exercise of a series of question rights. As for the former Unification Church, there have been many problems in the past and there have been victims, so it is necessary to investigate responsibly until the end."
The recent target is 500 billion yen per year.
The lawyer who wrote the proposal also summarized the actual situation and issues related to donations, stating that he was "involved in the investigation and reform from a third-party standpoint."
According to the petition, since the 1960s, the Cult has set a target amount for donations every year by a board of seven responsible members, including its representative, and recently it has been about 7 billion yen per year.
Regarding the amount, the lawyer said, "If you divide it by the approximately 500,1 believers who attend worship services at least once every six months, it is only more than 10,1 yen per person per month."
The denomination communicated its donation goals by allocating them to five "districts" and 4 subdivided "parishes."
While there were no sanctions when the target amount was not achieved, he said, "It seems that believers may compete for the amount of donations or foster an atmosphere in which it is natural to make large donations. Consideration for the problems of each family was not always sufficient."
However, it said, "Even if there are improvements, they have improved significantly since the 5 compliance declaration, and we established the Reform Promotion Headquarters in September last year to make improvements."