Lawmaker points out to Japanese parliament the severe harm inflicted on members of minority faith.
Tokyo, 13th March 2024 – Published as an article in the Japanese newspaper Sekai Nippo. Republished with permission. Translated from Japanese. Original article
A request to disclose the minutes of the Council of Religious Corporations was made by Senator Satoshi Hamada during a meeting of the General Affairs Committee of the House of Councillors.
by the Editorial department of Sekai Nippo
Prepared by Knut Holdhus
In response to a question in a meeting of the General Affairs Committee of the House of Councillors on 12th March, Councillor Satoshi Hamada (浜田聡) expressed concerns regarding the non-disclosure of the minutes of the Council of Religious Corporations, which led to the decision of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) to request the dissolution of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (formerly the Unification Church) at the Tokyo District Court. He stated that this non-disclosure is problematic from the perspective of religious freedom and demanded the disclosure of the minutes.
In response to this, Mariko Kobayashi (小林万里子), Deputy Director General of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, replied that “it was unanimously decided not to release the minutes of the meeting” until the court’s decision was finalized.
Furthermore, Hamada pointed out that there have been cases where believers of the former Unification Church were abducted and confined by their families and “exit counselors”, and forcibly coerced to renounce their faith. He noted that according to the church‘s announcement, the number of victims has exceeded 4,300.
Referring to the case of Toru Goto (後藤徹), who was locked up for 12 years and 5 months and subjected to coercion to leave the church, Satoshi Hamada mentioned that the family and the “exit counselor” [faith-breaker] Takashi Miyamura (宮村峻) were defeated in a civil lawsuit filed by Toru Goto, and the ruling was upheld by the Supreme Court. He emphasized that the government’s ought to recognize that kind of harm caused to members of the religious organisation.
In response, Parliamentary Vice-Minister Akiko Honda (本田顕子) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) said that she would “refrain from answering” because of the ongoing dissolution case and the fact that it was an individual case.
Hamada argued, “Considering the possibility that religious freedom may be unjustly threatened by politicians distancing themselves en masse, politicians should now listen to the voices of the followers of the Family Federation and take action.”
In addition, he questioned whether it was inappropriate for members of the Diet to attend gatherings of an organization that the Liberal Democratic Party had declared it had severed ties with. In response, Akiko Honda, the Parliamentary Vice-Minister for the Ministry, stated, “We are not in a position to comment on the activities of individual members of the Diet or their participation in meetings with specific organizations.”
Featured image above: Satoshi Hamada in Dec. 2023. Photo: Tamiron / Wikimedia Commons. Public domain image. Cropped