Unification Church Dissolution Trial: Finally, Two Sincere Voices Are Allowed to Speak

Two Family Federation believers were allowed to testify before the High Court. They represent the thousands of Church members who are being slandered and discriminated against. by Massimo lntrovigne

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A view of the Tokyo High Court building.

It took a tsunami of accusations, a media frenzy, and a government bent on dissolution- but finally, on October 21, two members of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church) were allowed to speak in the High Court appeal proceedings contesting the first-degree verdict of March 25 ordering the dissolution of the Church.

Two. Out of the thousands who were prepared to testify. And what they said should echo through the halls of the Tokyo High Court like a bell tolli ng for justice.

A male employee in his 30s, a second-generation member, stated that he embraced happily and voluntarily his parents’ faith. He mentioned the discrimination and slandering Church members are suffering after the Abe assassination, and said these wi ll worsen if the d issolution order wi ll be confirmed. “If the dissolution order is finalized, I will lose my job. My experience as a church employee could lead to discrimination and make it difficult to find new employment, which greatly concerns me.”

A Korean woman in her 50s told of her missionary work, the loving relationships she had developed with many Japanese, and her beautiful marriage with a Japanese fellow believer. She said she established good relations with her husbands’ parents and relatives. She mentioned that she happi ly made donations to the Church in total freedom. She reported d iscriminatory treatment after the Abe assassination and expressed anxiety about the dissolution: “I’m afraid that if the church , which is also our community, disappears because of the dissolution order, I’ll be left isolated.”

These statements, sincere and straightforward, carry the unmistakable sound of truth. They stand in stark contrast to the parade of alleged victim testimonies-some of which may not even be genuine. In fact, two members of the Family Federation and two victims of documents’ forgery filed a lawsuit against Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Sc:iP.nr.P. ;:rnrl TP.r.hnoloov (MFXTl r.l.=iimino th;it somP. of thP. str1tP.mP.nts it filP.rl WP.rP.

fabricated. The public announcement of the lawsuit. made on September 5, was a bold move to defend not just the Chu rch’s existence, but the principle of relig ious freedom itself.

As it happens in all religions, some former members may be unhappy w ith t heir experience and now feel like victims. other “victims” are j ust fabricated. The testimonies invited the High Court and the public opi nion to consider that there are hundreds of thousands of real victims. These are the current members and thei r children who, with the dissolution of the Church, w ill be discriminated against in t he workp lace-and may even lose their jobs-slandered in the media, ridiculed by acquaintances, and bullied at school. This discrim ination has already started .

And the world is watching. The United Nations has exp ressed seriou s d o ubts about Japan’s actions, warning that the dissolution of the Unificat ion Church may vio late international standards on religious liberty. W hen the UN starts raising eyebrows, it’s not a minor procedural hiccup-it’s a flashing red light.

Yet the government presses on, seemingly deaf to the pleas of believers and blind to the b roader implications. When a state begins to pic k and choose which faiths are acceptable, it sets a dangerous p recedent.

We celebrate these two brave w itnesses. Their voices-th oug h few-pierce the fog of p rej udice and m isinformation. They remind us that behind every headline and courtroom drama are real people w ith real beliefs and dignity.

May t he Tokyo Hig h Court listen. May it hear not just the clamor of politics, but the quiet conviction of faith. And may it remember that justice, like t ruth, is not served by silencing the minority-but by protecting it.

TAGGED W ITH: JAPAN, RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, UNIFICATION CHURCH

Massimo lntrovigne Massimo lntrovigne (born June 14, 1955 in Rome) is an Italian sociologist of religions. He is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. lntrovigne is the author of some 70 books and more than 100 articles in the field of sociology of religion. He was the main author of the Enciclogedia delle religioni in Italia (Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy). He is a member of the editorial board for the lnterdisciglinary Journal of Research on Religion and of the executive board of University of California Press’ Nova Relig]Q. From January 5 to December 31, 2011, he has served as the “Representative on combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, with a special focus on discrimination against Christians and members of other religions” of the Organization for Security and Co-ogeration in Euroge (OSCE). From 2012 to 2015 he served as chairperson of the Observatory of Religious Liberty, instituted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to monitor problems of religious liberty on a worldwide scale.

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