The Japanese government on Tuesday began discussing guidelines for its probe of the Unification Church, moving a step closer to questioning the controversial religious group with an eye on possibly requesting a court consider depriving it of tax benefits.
The discussions came after Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last week instructed an investigation be launched into the church based on the "right to question" under the Religious Corporations Law in response to pressure from the public to address ties between members of his ruling party and the group, often labeled as a cult.
Tetsuo Goda, a Cultural Affairs Agency executive, said he expects the direction of the guidelines to be set in the next meeting and called on a panel of experts advising his organization to discuss the issue from various perspectives "in light of the graveness and urgency" of the situation involving the church.
If all goes to plan, the probe could begin by the end of this year. The panel, composed of priests as well as religious and legal scholars, is tasked with hammering out basic principles and conditions for the government to demand the church report on its operations and allow its executives to be questioned.
The process is deemed necessary as there is no precedent and the agency is seeking to avoid criticism that it is arbitrarily targeting the group and infringing on religious freedom in conducting such a probe.
The Unification Church, founded in South Korea in 1954, has long been criticized for its pursuit of financially ruinous donations from followers.
The group, now formally called the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, has also been notorious for "spiritual sales," in which it pressures people to buy vases and other items for exorbitant prices through the use of threats, such as invoking negative "ancestral karma."
The religious law allows government oversight of religious corporations which, if they are suspected to have violated a law, can be compelled to have their senior representatives submit to questioning and asked to report their activities.
If the investigation confirms that a religious corporation has violated laws and damaged public welfare, the government can request a court to order its "dissolution."
Depending on a court judgment, the Unification Church could lose its status as a religious corporation and be deprived of tax benefits, although the church can still operate in Japan as an entity.
Kishida had previously been cautious about ordering a probe into the church partly due to concern it could violate the right to freedom of religion.
But he has decided to take a more hardline approach after a series of new revelations about the church's connections with his Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers sparked public anger that it may have exerted political influence.
Scrutiny of the church intensified after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot during an election campaign speech in early July.
The man accused of murdering Abe believed the former prime minister and his family members were linked to the church and entities affiliated with the religious group, known to have advocated anti-Communist and conservative views, according to investigators.
The accused's mother is a committed follower of the Unification Church and it is known that her huge donations to the church ruined the family's finances.
Hideyuki Teshigawara, who heads the church's reform promotion headquarters, has said the organization will "sincerely" accept the probe.
==Kyodo
