By UCA News Reporter
JAPAN – Faith leaders, academics, and rights activists have expressed concern over legislation and restrictions in Japan against religious entities following former prime minister Shinzo Abe’s assassination, which they warn could threaten “all religions.”
Some 31 global leaders in the field of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) issued a joint statement on Dec 31 titled “A Religious Liberty Crisis in Japan,” Bitter Winter reported.
“Various forces are using this assassination to begin dismantling key human rights of religious believers in the democratic nation of Japan,” the statement said.
“We believe that the strong emotions generated by the Abe assassination, understandable though they may be, should not lead to legislation, administrative, or legal actions that violate human rights in Japan,” the signatories said.
“A democracy should not arbitrarily harm the right of any religion to operate freely, collect donations, and transmit its faith and moral values to the next generation,” they added.
Tetsuya Yamagami shot and killed Abe on Jul 8, 2022, over his ties to the Unification Church.
Yamagami said his family faced economic hardship due to hefty donations made by his mother to the church, which was estimated to be around US$1 million.
The signatories alleged that the donations from the Yamagami family were returned in 2009 as part of a mutually agreed settlement, which is “less mentioned in the media.”
They also pointed out that Tetsuya was never a member of the Unification Church and “had in fact signed a statement accepting the settlement.”
Following Abe’s assassination, there was a “sudden resurgence of old and largely politically motivated campaigns against the Unification Church,” the statement said.
“These efforts, relying on the populist but unscientific term ‘cult’ also targeted other groups, including religions such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses,” they said.
The signatories said that the sale of articles at exorbitant prices — called “Spiritual Sales — was carried out by a company whose members were part of the Unification Church and had ceased by the time of Abe’s assassination.
The signatories also said that only the negative claims of second-generation Unification Church members were heard, who alleged that they “were not provided with good educational opportunities,” by the media and politicians.
The media and politicians were “ignoring the thousands who grew up happily in new religious movements and gladly remained there,” Bitter Winter said citing the statement.
The signatories said three legal measures that threaten all religions, “not the alone, and not new religious movements alone,” were enacted in Japan.
The first measure includes provisions for the dissolution of a religious corporation, which the signatories said was revised to enable the disbanding of religious groups if they “lost some civil cases.”
The previous version of the law was interpreted to permit dissolution only if religious corporations were found guilty of major crimes.
“If this minimalist basis for dissolution is upheld by the courts, then no religion will be safe from dissolution,” the signatories warned.
Secondly, the signatories said that new provisions were introduced limiting the possibility for “controversial” organizations to solicit donations and made it easier for those who had donated to such movements, or their heirs and relatives, to get their money back.
Thirdly, the signatories expressed concern about guidelines in the form of questions and answers on the deprivation of second-generation members of “controversial” religious movements and the so-called “religious abuse of children.”
The signatories alleged that, “several provisions of the guidelines have nothing to do with the Unification Church and target the Jehovah’s Witnesses and other conservative Christian groups.” – UCA News
