Tokyo court orders former Unification Church to disband

A court in Japan has ordered the group once called the Unification Church to disband as a religious corporation. The group is expected to appeal.

The Tokyo District Court issued the order on Tuesday, as requested by the education and culture ministry.

The ministry had filed the request in 2023 based on the Religious Corporations Act. It said the group solicited large donations from followers and induced them into buying expensive items by exploiting fears about their spiritual wellbeing.

Ministry officials interviewed more than 170 people who say they or their families had fallen victim.
They concluded that the group continuously received large donations over a long period of time, forcing its followers to make financial and psychological sacrifices.

The group argued that collecting donations is a religious activity, and complaints about the practice and other issues dropped sharply since it ordered measures to ensure compliance in 2009. It said its activities are not malicious, systematic or continuous in nature.

This is the third time that a court in Japan has ordered the dissolution of a religious corporation due to legal violations.

One of the past cases involved the Aum Shinrikyo cult, which carried out a deadly sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system in 1995. The other targeted the Myokakuji temple group, whose top executive was convicted of fraud.

Unlike the previous two cases, the latest order was issued on the grounds that the group had engaged in unlawful acts under civil law, not the penal code.