Japan probes Unification Church linked to ruling party, may revoke tax-free status

Name: Japanese PM Kishida orders investigation into Unification Church as his approval ratings plummet
Uploaded: 2022-11-23T02:00:16.000Z
Duration: 1 min 47 s
Description: Japanese PM Kishida orders investigation into Unification Church as his approval ratings plummet

The Japanese government intends to determine if the Unification Church coerced followers to make large donations to the religious organisation

Links between church and lawmakers in the ruling LDP came to light after former premier Shinzo Abe was shot and killed by son of a former church member

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The Tokyo headquarters of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, known as the Unification Church. Photo: AFP/File

Julian Ryallin Tokyo

Published: 10:00am, 23 Nov 2022Updated: 11:07am, 23 Nov 2022

The Japanese government was due to begin investigating the Unification Church on Tuesday, by sending a list of questions to determine the organisation’s activities, income and operations as authorities piece together a strategy to cancel the group’s status as a religious corporation.

The questions are being sent under the authority of the education and culture ministry, which is insisting replies be provided by December 9.

By exercising the “right to ask questions” – the first time the provision in the Religious Corporations Law has been used since it was enacted in 1996 – the government intends to determine if the church coerced followers to make large donations. Critics have charged that donations to the church, now formally known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification – took so much money from some followers that it bankrupted a number of families.

It’s not known when authorities will complete their investigation, or make a ruling on the church’s future, but the government – which has been criticised for its links to the group – will be hoping for a conclusion sooner rather than later.

Authorities have not stated when the investigation might be completed and a decision on the future of the church announced, but the government – which has been criticised for its links to the group – will be hoping to draw a line under the situation sooner rather than later.

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Japanese PM Kishida orders investigation into Unification Church as his approval ratings plummet

The activities of the church have been the subject of a series of lawsuits over many years, but the government has failed to intervene, the critics claim. The authorities were no longer able to overlook allegations against the church after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was shot dead by the son of a follower who claimed his mother had left the family broke after spending all her assets on church trinkets – a tactic known as “spiritual sales”.