March 27, 2025
Tokyo – As the harm caused by the unification church exceeds 20 billion yen, the Tokyo District Court has focused on the scale of the damage and believes the organization ordered it to systematically expropriate illegal donations on Tuesday.
The church, formally known as the Family Federation of World Peace and Unity, strongly opposed this decision. It intends to appeal, which may cause the trial to move forward.
“The harm caused by the unified church that has accumulated over a long period of time and has affected a wide range of people must have given the impression that the organization's tolerance of illegal behavior has not changed,” a senior judge said of Tuesday's decision.
Under the Religious Companies Act, two conditions for a court to issue a dissolution order for a religious company must be met: it must violate the law or regulations and must be indicted in a bill that is considered to cause significant harm to public welfare.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, which seeks dissolution orders claims that the church solicits donations illegally, an act prohibited under the Civil Code – at least since 1980, and thus both conditions are met.
The church believes that the requirements involving legal violations “only apply to cases involving criminal penalties.” However, in another trial, considered a preliminary trial on Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled on March 3 that religious organizations that commit illegal acts under the Civil Code can comply with the dissolution order. The Tokyo District Court made a similar ruling under Tuesday's order.
The problem now is the latter situation, that is, the damage to public welfare.
Unlike the two dissolution orders previously given to the AUM Supreme Truth Cult and Myokakuji group, their top leaders are responsible for crimes, with little evidence of whether the senior members of the Unified Church have given instructions.
Since the Religious Companies Act emphasizes words like “clear” and “basically,” legal experts believe that the barriers to obstacles are high.
To overcome this obstacle, the ministry strives to prove that “illegal conduct” is “conducted on an immoral intent and ongoing basis at the organizational level.”
The ministry specifically seeks to demonstrate the “organizational” nature of church actions. It compiled as much information as possible about damages lawsuits, eventually finding 32 civil court rulings and reached over 1,000 off-site settlements between victims and churches.
The ministry believes that the commonality and unity of these actions “hints on the existence of the organization.”
The strategy proved to be successful. The District Court acknowledged the ministry's assertion that damages over 20 billion yen occurred over a period of 40 years, mostly as part of religious activities of the unified church. The court then concluded that, “It can be said that these are the actions of religious organizations in terms of social norms.”
“With so many serious illegal acts, the court cannot ignore them just because they are not criminal cases,” said a senior judge.
Potential for damage
Meanwhile, the church emphasizes that “our organization has changed.”
It believes that the activity is not ongoing, as the number of complaints dropped sharply after its announcement of full compliance with relevant regulations in 2009, following the fraud of its followers.
The Unified Church also claimed that the group reviewed the method of soliciting donations after receiving guidance from the Cultural Affairs Agency after approving the group’s name change in 2015. Therefore, “there is no reason to dissolve at this time,” it claims.
The group’s claims were so radical that it even accuses former compatibles of testifying about donations at a closed-door hearing in the district court.
However, the district court said the church did not investigate why followers solicited donations illegally, nor showed any signs of basic measures. The court completely rejected the organization's argument and concluded that it had the potential to cause similar damage.
The church intends to appeal immediately, possibly continuing its argument in the Tokyo High Court.
Constitutional scholar Eiichiro Takahata said Tuesday's court ruling “considered that the church has not seriously tried to stop illegal acts of its followers.”
He added: “It is difficult for the church to overturn the dissolution order because its declaration of full compliance is believed to have failed to eliminate the damage.”
