Media coverage on the July 8, 2022 shooting of former Prime Minister Abe has been extremely scant in their criticism of the terrorist act committed by defendant Tetsuya Yamagami.
The government changing its interpretation of the Religious Corporations Act will naturally affect all religious corporations. The conventional requirement for requesting a dissolution order of a religious corporation was explicitly interpreted as committing “an act that is in violation of the prohibitive or imperative norms established by the Penal Code or other laws and regulations, and that is clearly found to harm public welfare substantially” in Article 81, paragraph 1, item 1 of the aforementioned Act, along with item 2 which states, “an act which deviates substantially from the purpose of a religious organization prescribed in the provisions of Article 2” (Tokyo High Court, December 19, 1995).
Last October, when the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) petitioned the Tokyo District Court for an order to dissolve the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU; formerly the Unification Church, or the Family Federation), Prime Minister Fumio Kishida changed his interpretation of the Religious Corporation Law, the basis for the petition, without holding a Cabinet meeting, according to a Feb 9 dated reply to a question submitted on January 31 by House of Councillors Member Satoshi Hamada. The change was made clear in the written response. This report examines the out-of-the-ordinary political moves, including Kishida’s decision to use a simple procedure to request a dissolution order, which is tantamount to a “death sentence” for religious corporations.
