Unification Church

==== Spiritual sales ====
The National Network of Lawyers against spiritual sales, a network of 300 attorneys accuses the Unification Church of engaging in "[[Fortune telling fraud|Spiritual Sales]]" , alleging that it has made its adherents to invest large amounts of money to the point of bankruptcy. The Unification Church's president in Japan, Tomihiro Tanaka, stated trouble with illegal solicitation and large donation were a thing of the past and since 2009 has had no trouble due to stress on legal compliance.<ref name="press120722">{{cite web |date=12 July 2022 |script-title=ja:自己破産させられた信者はたくさんいる. 2世の苦しみがどんなにつらいか. 霊感商法弁護団が会見. |url=https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/a2901be12dab04ee1be8a795d41e65cecbeba5c8 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712104746/https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/a2901be12dab04ee1be8a795d41e65cecbeba5c8 |archive-date=12 July 2022 |publisher=Yahoo news Japan |language=ja}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Transcript: Unification Church news conference on Abe shooting |url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Shinzo-Abe/Transcript-Unification-Church-news-conference-on-Abe-shooting |access-date=2023-08-10 |website=[[Nikkei Asia]] |language=en-GB}}</ref> The Network of Lawyers, which was set up in 1987 to impose countermeasures to what has been perceived as damages caused by the Unification church,<ref name="press120722" /> amounting to 123.7 billion yen, based on statistics compiled by the association's lawyers between 1987 and 2021, obtained via 34,537 complaints submitted to Government Consumer centers. The network reported about 300 million yen in 2021 alone.<ref>{{cite web |script-title=ja:窓口別被害者集計（1987年~） |url=https://www.stopreikan.com/madoguchi_higai.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220711202650/https://www.stopreikan.com/madoguchi_higai.htm |archive-date=11 July 2022 |publisher=National Network of Lawyers Against Spiritual Sales |language=ja}}</ref>

One of the lawyers, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, accused the Unification Church of causing considerable pain to the families of those who donated, stating when Church members couldn't make ends meet through simply donating, the Church made believers borrow money from financial institutions using their real estate as collateral<ref name="press120722" /> Another lawyer, Yasuo Kawai, accused Japanese politicians and administrators of taking no action against the Unification Church, which he said disintegrates families, for more than 30 years.<ref>{{cite web |date=12 July 2022 |script-title=ja:「政治家として配慮いただきたい、ということを繰り返しお願いしてきた」安倍元総理の銃撃事件、旧統一教会の記者会見を受け、全国霊感商法対策弁護士連絡会が声明 |url=https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/5e568fc42691f63d0c56bbc4850bbd5413486986 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712135738/https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/5e568fc42691f63d0c56bbc4850bbd5413486986 |archive-date=12 July 2022 |publisher=Abema times/Yahoo news Japan |language=ja}}</ref> Kito Masaki called for Japan's [[National Diet]] (parliament) to conduct a bipartisan investigation of the case.<ref>[https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASQ7V5R9KQ7VUTIL02R.html 旧統一教会問題「行政も思考停止」　紀藤弁護士、国会での調査求める]</ref><ref>[https://news.nifty.com/article/item/neta/12136-1762739/ 警察はなぜ旧統一教会を放置し続けた？ 1995年の摘発を退けた「政治圧力]</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Shinzo Abe's ties to the Unification Church may have cost him |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/07/27/abe-japan-unification-church-ultranationalism/}}</ref><ref name="hida2018">[[:ja:樋田毅|Tsuyoshi Hida]]. (2018) ''記者襲撃 赤報隊事件30年目の真実''. pp.160–168 [[Iwanami Shoten]]. {{ISBN|978-4000612487}}</ref><ref name="wp16088984">{{cite news |date=16 September 1984 |title=Moon's Japanese Profits Bolster Efforts in U.S. |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/cult/unification/profit.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970506101102/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/cult/unification/profit.htm |archive-date=6 May 1997}}</ref> According to [[Busan Presbyterian University]] professor Tak Ji-il, "On the surface, they are fighting over religious principles but they are actually fighting over money."<ref>{{cite web |date=16 July 2022 |title=Church or cult? Inside the Moonies' 'world of delusion' |url=https://www.ft.com/content/2bf8dd43-78ca-4d2f-935e-70c9d34e1a5d |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716191724/https://ft.com/content/2bf8dd43-78ca-4d2f-935e-70c9d34e1a5d |archive-date=16 July 2022 |newspaper=[[Financial Times]]}}</ref> According to the Japanese Communist Party newspaper ''Akahata'' and According to {{ill|Shoichi Fujita|ja|藤田庄市}} of the {{ill|Religious Information Research Center|ja|国際宗教研究所}} and the Zenkoku genriundo higaisha fubo no kai (literally, National Association of Parents of Victims of the Moonism, 全国原理運動被害者父母の会) – an organization formed by the parents of Unification Church members, for the Unification Church, Japan has a history of aggression against Korea, therefore has an obligation to serve Korea, and as atonement, internally known as "indemnity", collection of money by "Fortune telling fraud"（霊感商法） is imposed.<ref name="akahata">[https://www.jcp.or.jp/akahata/aik10/2010-05-11/2010051114_01_1.html Japanese Communist Party Newspaper Akahata 2010/05/11]</ref><ref>[https://thediplomat.com/2022/07/the-ldps-tangled-ties-to-the-unification-church/ The LDP’s Tangled Ties to the Unification Church – The Diplomat 2022.7.28]</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2022-08-03 |title=How Abe's killing exposes Japan's thin line between church and state |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/d0656caa-2d56-484a-b7ef-fd1b96dddfb9 |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-08-10 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/d0656caa-2d56-484a-b7ef-fd1b96dddfb9 |archive-date=10 December 2022}}</ref> According to [[Yoshifu Arita]], it is taking advantage of Japanese young people's sense of guilt for [[Korea under Japanese rule|Japan's 40-year colonial rule of Korea]] (1905–1945) and defrauding them of money.<ref>{{cite web |date=25 August 2012 |script-title=ja:霊感商法に合同結婚式...「統一教会」が創始者危篤で分裂の危機 |url=https://dot.asahi.com/wa/2012092601698.html?page=1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200317170724/https://dot.asahi.com/wa/2012092601698.html?page=1 |archive-date=17 March 2020 |publisher=[[Asahi Shimbun]]/Aera dot. |language=ja}}</ref>  According to Hiroaki Soejima and Inoue in an interview with the ''Washington Post'', the religious icons, marble vases, miniature treasure pagodas and other religious icons that were represented as having supernatural power, were distributed by Happy World Inc., an importing firm based in Tokyo that they said was connected to the church. Hiroshi Sakazume, the Japanese Unification Church's director general of public relations at the time denied that the church had any relationship with Happy World, claiming in their view that "the Unification Church has nothing to do with sales activities," . "We don't know what each church member is doing. But as a church, we don't do any sales . . . . Happy World is a different company, a totally separate organization."<ref name="wp16088984" />  

According to the Chairman Tomihiro Tanaka, donations are made voluntarily by the individual, and are based on the individual's beliefs, while also acknowledging that people had donated large sums of money in the past. There were no teachings about how much you can contribute to how much you will be saved and there was no instructions that pushed families in bankruptcy to donate even more.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="wp130722">{{cite news |date=12 July 2022 |title=How Abe and Japan became vital to Moon's Unification Church |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/12/unification-church-japan-shinzo-abe/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220713011112/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/12/unification-church-japan-shinzo-abe/ |archive-date=13 July 2022}}</ref> Tanaka stated in a press conference that in the past it had had problems with its followers due to illegal solicitations and large donations. He claimed that there has been no trouble between the Unification Church and its followers since 2009, when it began to emphasize legal compliance.<ref name="press120722" /> On 11 July 2022 the Unification Church issued a press release stating donation amounts are determined by individual members.<ref name="Kodansha" /><ref name="wp 0710 assassin mother" /><ref name="Yahoo News" /><ref name="news.yahoo.co.jp" /> One of Moon's sons, Kook Jin Moon, denied the church was pressuring its Japanese members to make large donations to save the spirits of their deceased loved ones, stating instead the members informed him it was their forebears that had instructed them to make large donations in an interview he conducted.<ref name="wp130722" /><ref name=":1">{{cite web |date=12 July 2022 |script-title=ja:銃撃男と統一教会 教団が会見「銃撃されたことは知っている」「合同結婚式」「霊感商法」社会問題化...被害救済の弁護士「今も深刻」 |url=https://news.ntv.co.jp/category/society/71bb44b03c0f4a18bb4bbdb1566e2af7 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712105711/https://news.ntv.co.jp/category/society/71bb44b03c0f4a18bb4bbdb1566e2af7 |archive-date=12 July 2022 |publisher=Yahoo news Japan/ Nippon television network |language=ja}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=11 July 2022 |script-title=ja:統一教会とは 安倍晋三氏や祖父・岸信介氏との関係は? |url=https://mainichi.jp/articles/20220711/k00/00m/040/234000c |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712011813/https://mainichi.jp/articles/20220711/k00/00m/040/234000c |archive-date=12 July 2022 |publisher=[[Mainichi shimbun]] |language=ja}}</ref> 

In civil cases, Japanese courts have issued a number of rulings ordering the Unification Church to pay compensation to the plaintiffs, saying its missionary work is illegal.<ref name="mainichi120722">{{cite web|url=https://mainichi.jp/articles/20220712/k00/00m/040/273000c|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712232219/https://mainichi.jp/articles/20220712/k00/00m/040/273000c|script-title=ja:旧統一教会被害者弁護士ら会見 「献金の強要ないという説明はうそ」|language=ja|publisher=[[Mainichi shimbun]]|date=12 July 2022|archive-date=12 July 2022}}</ref> Criminal cases related to the Unification Church have also occurred. In 2009, the [[Tokyo District Court]] sentenced Unification Church members to prison for forcing victims to buy expensive seals. The court ruled that the missionary work was a pernicious act of forcing its victims to buy a seal immediately after instigating their anxiety by linking their worries to their long-time ancestral pasts.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://clnn.org/archives/hanrei/1488|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712120713/https://clnn.org/archives/hanrei/1488|script-title=ja:統一協会の霊感商法に懲役刑|language=ja|publisher=Consumer law news|archive-date=12 July 2022}}</ref>

To address any social problems caused by the Unification Church, the Japanese [[House of Representatives (Japan)|House of Representatives]] and [[House of Councillors]] passed two bills to restrict the activities of religious organizations such as the Unification Church and provide relief to victims.<ref name="nikkei101222">{{cite web |date=10 December 2022 |script-title=ja:旧統一教会の被害者救済新法成立 不当な寄付勧誘に罰則 |url=https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUA101KP0Q2A211C2000000/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221210091835/https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUA101KP0Q2A211C2000000/ |archive-date=10 December 2022 |access-date=10 December 2022 |publisher=[[The Nikkei]] |language=ja}}</ref><ref name="mainichi101222">{{cite web |date=10 December 2022 |script-title=ja:旧統一教会被害者救済新法が成立 「霊感」使った寄付勧誘に刑事罰 |url=https://mainichi.jp/articles/20221210/k00/00m/040/188000c |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221210113234/https://mainichi.jp/articles/20221210/k00/00m/040/188000c |archive-date=10 December 2022 |access-date=10 December 2022 |publisher=[[Mainichi Shimbun]] |language=ja}}</ref><ref name="cdp240822">{{cite web|url=https://cdp-japan.jp/news/20220824_4317|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220824121729/https://cdp-japan.jp/news/20220824_4317|script-title=ja:カルト被害防止・救済の法制化に向けて政府からヒアリング 旧統一教会被害対策本部、消費者部会合同会議|language=ja|publisher=[[Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan]]|date=24 August 2022|archive-date=24 August 2022|access-date=11 December 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sankei.com/article/20221111-SYNQ4EHOHVKWLNFLUHZSYVLEOI/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221112081450/https://www.sankei.com/article/20221111-SYNQ4EHOHVKWLNFLUHZSYVLEOI/|script-title=ja:どうなる救済新法、マインドコントロール下での勧誘焦点|language=ja|publisher=[[Sankei Shimbun]]|date=11 November 2022|archive-date=12 November 2022|access-date=11 December 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://mainichi.jp/articles/20221208/k00/00m/040/393000c|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221210014922/https://mainichi.jp/articles/20221208/k00/00m/040/393000c|script-title=ja:旧統一教会巡るカルト規制 "先進国"フランスの教訓は？|language=ja|date=9 December 2022|archive-date=10 December 2022|access-date=11 December 2022}}</ref><ref name="tokyo091222" />

The bills were supported by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and [[Komeito]], and opposition parties the [[Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan]] (CDP), [[Nippon Ishin no Kai]], and [[Democratic Party for the People]], and opposed by the opposition parties the [[Japanese Communist Party]] (JCP) and the [[Reiwa Shinsengumi]].<ref name="mainichi101222" />{{Request quotation|date=March 2023}} The CDP had opposed the bills, seeking legislation to more strictly restrict religious organizations, but switched to support it after a clause to review the law two years later was specified in the bill. According to the CDP and some Unification Church victims, legislation to restrict religious organizations even more strictly is needed. The JCP had proposed another bill to restrict religious organizations and therefore opposed the bills.<ref name="tokyo091222">{{cite web|url=https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/218851|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221209062447/https://www.tokyo-np.co.jp/article/218851|script-title=ja:旧統一教会の被害者救済法案成立へ 厳格な規制求めた立憲民主党はなぜ与党に急に「妥協」したのか|language=ja|publisher=[[Tokyo Shimbun]]|date=9 December 2022|archive-date=9 December 2022|access-date=11 December 2022}}</ref>{{Request quotation|date=March 2023}}