Experts Flag Flawed Case; Media Chooses Silence

Even though experts challenge dissolution order pointing out obvious holes in the authorities’ flawed case, the mainstream media stays silent, possibly fearing state reaction

Tokyo, 8th August 2025 – Published as an article in the Japanese newspaper Sekai Nippo. Republished with permission. Translated from Japanese. Original article. 

“Public Calls for Dissolution Are Based on Emotional Arguments”

Experts Respond to the Dissolution Order for the Family Federation, Holding a Press Conference That “Silenced” the Media

by the religious freedom desk of Sekai Nippo

See also State Scolds Big NHK for Reporting Other Side

See also 356 Experts Urge Fair Trial in Dissolution Case

See also Reports Disputing Government Narrative Censored

See also Case of State Meddling in Work of Journalists

See also Rebuttals Submitted to Tokyo Appeal Court

“The seven of us are not believers.”

This was the position of the Association of Experts Seeking a Fair and Impartial Trial, whose members – including international lawyer Tatsuki Nakayama (中山達樹), professor of the former Musashino Women’s University Seishiro Sugihara (杉原誠四郎), and nonfiction author Masumi Fukuda (福田ますみ) – held a press conference on 6^th August questioning the fairness of the legal process leading to the dissolution order against the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU, formerly the Unification Church).

The Tokyo venue drew reporters from 11 media outlets including NHK, Mainichi Shimbun, Nippon TV, and Kyodo News. However, when the Q&A began, only Seiron magazine and this newspaper raised questions. What did these experts – who seemed to have “silenced” the rest of the media – have to say?

Nakayama, the lead organizer and legal counsel for the religious organization, pointed out:

“(The Tokyo District Court) claimed that ‘harm at an intolerable level’ continued even after the religious organization’s 2009 compliance declaration [See editor’s note 1 below]. But it gave no definition or standard for what ‘intolerable level’ means.”

He urged the media to report that over 300 neutral international experts have voiced “grief and anger” over the matter.

Masaki Nakamasa (仲正昌樹), professor at Kanazawa University and a former member, noted a wide gap between the religious organization’s actual practices and its public image, citing specific examples:

“It’s said that the Unification Church threatens people with ‘You’ll go to hell’ to get donations. But that doctrine doesn’t exist, and I was never told such a thing.”

He also dismissed “mind control” outright,

“It’s fiction. If such a technique really existed, people would use it to get ahead in society.”

Fukuda recalled that when she began reporting on the religious organization after the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (安倍晋三),

“I felt that ‘anti-cult’ forces and the media had teamed up to produce grossly biased coverage.”

She stressed that testimonies from former believers who left after abduction and confinement for forcible faith-breaking [See editor’s note 2 below] were being spotlighted exclusively:

“Public opinion in favor of dissolution is being built entirely on emotional arguments, without showing the reality of the religious organization.”

What she fears most is that even the government and judiciary side with public sentiment. She lamented,

“This is the collapse of democracy.”

Sugihara criticized the reliance on past court cases as grounds for dissolution:

“If you can dig back as far as you like, then any religious group could qualify for dissolution.”

From within the religious community, concerns also emerged. Pastor Haruhisa Nakagawa (中川晴久) of the Christian Church of the Lord’s Sheep (Yokohama), who supports religious believers victimized by abduction and confinement, stated:

“Research shows that nearly 300 Christian pastors were involved in abduction and confinement. This is truly shameful. On behalf of the Christian Church, I want to apologize to those victimized.”

Reverend Shindo Mizuta (水田真道), head priest of Kongoji Temple (Myoshinji branch of the Rinzai Buddhist sect, Numazu City, Shizuoka), said he initially supported dissolution. However, after meeting with members of the religious organization at his temple, he came to see dissolution as a threat to religious freedom. Addressing fellow clergy, he appealed:

“Put aside preconceptions and things we cling on to and look with clear, unclouded eyes. For us religious leaders, this is not someone else’s problem.”

Islamic commentator Humayun A. Mughal spoke of the pain religious people feel when their place of worship is taken away:

“In Japan, religion is a matter of one’s own conscience. I ask judges to follow their conscience when delivering a verdict.”

Former House of Councillors member Satoshi Hamada (浜田聡) also sent a video message:

“In the ordinary Diet session, I pointed out the possibility that the Ministry of Education’s court documents may have been fabricated. There was no denial of fabrication in the government’s reply. I hope the ministry will respond sincerely.”

In its statement, the association emphasized that they are not expressing agreement with or understanding of the doctrines or activities of the religious organization. Instead, they outlined three concerns about the Tokyo District Court’s 25^th March dissolution order:

1. Using past civil cases – where donation activity began an average of over 30 years ago – as grounds for dissolution.
2. Recognizing “continuity of harm” based only on abstract evidence like settlements, despite there being zero illegal donations in the past 11 years.
3. Ignoring suspicions of alteration or fabrication in government-submitted evidence.

They are calling on the Tokyo High Court for a fair and impartial trial.

However, the press conference questioning the dissolution order seems to have been met by the mainstream media with the “freedom not to report”. A heavy atmosphere of suppressing dissent hangs over the discourse, and the call for “fairness and impartiality” is something the media itself should also heed.

See also State Scolds Big NHK for Reporting Other Side

See also 356 Experts Urge Fair Trial in Dissolution Case

See also Reports Disputing Government Narrative Censored

See also Case of State Meddling in Work of Journalists

See also Rebuttals Submitted to Tokyo Appeal Court

Featured image above: Attorney Tatsuki Nakayama (center), the lead representative of the organizers, speaks at the press conference. On the right is Pastor Haruhisa Nakagawa of the Christian Church of the Lord’s Sheep; on the left is nonfiction writer Masumi Fukuda. Photographed on the afternoon of 6^th August 2025 in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo. Photo: Takahide Ishii (石井孝秀)

[Editor’s note 1: The 2009 compliance declaration of the Unification Church of Japan (now the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification) was a formal commitment by the organization to reform its practices in response to longstanding public criticism and legal challenges.

The Unification Church in Japan had faced numerous allegations related to recruitment tactics and donation solicitation, termed “spiritual sales” (霊感商法) by a hostile network of activist lawyers who had declared the religious organization an enemy. These issues led to multiple lawsuits orchestrated by the activist lawyers and significant media backlash. This prompted the organization to take measures to restore its reputation and demonstrate compliance with legal and ethical standards.

The religious organization pledged to stop possibly unethical donation practices, including what the hostile network of lawyers claimed amounted to “pressuring members into making large financial contributions under spiritual pretexts.”

This was in response to accusations from the same activist lawyers that followers “were being manipulated into giving away substantial amounts of money or property.”

The Unification Church stated it would enhance internal oversight to ensure compliance with ethical and legal standards. Measures included better training for leaders and stricter guidelines for evangelization and solicitation of donations.

After this compliance declaration, there was a significant decrease in the number of lawsuits against the Unification Church – since 2015 called the Family Federation. The religious organization has used this as evidence that it has improved its practices and should not be subject to dissolution.]

[Editor’s note 2: Coercive faith-breaking (“deprogramming”) in Japan refers to the practice of coercively attempting to separate individuals from their religious affiliations or beliefs, typically through intervention by family members, professional faith-breakers (deprogrammers) or organizations hostile to new religious movements (NRMs). This phenomenon often targets members of such movements, e.g. relatively large faiths like the Family Federation or Jehovah’s Witnesses, but also smaller groups like Happy Science (Kōfuku no Kagaku) and other newer religious movements.

However, also Soka Gakkai, a Buddhist-based lay organization with more than 8 million Japanese members, and affiliated with Nichiren Buddhism, has occasionally been subject to faith-breaking attempts.

The practice gained attention in the latter half of the 20th century, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s. Parents or concerned family members often hired faith-breakers who taught them how to abduct and forcibly detain believers. Almost all such cases involved confining the individual believer and cutting him or her off from the religious community. During the confinement, the believer was subjected to intense questioning or indoctrination designed to break his or her faith. The aim was to “rescue” the person from what the family often had been tricked by faith-breakers or lawyers to regard as harmful influence from the religious organization.

Critics of forced de-conversion argue that it violates fundamental human rights, including freedom of thought, religion, and association. Reports of psychological trauma and accusations of unlawful detention have sparked debates over its ethical and legal implications. In response, some religious groups, particularly NRMs, have lobbied for greater protections against such practices.

Japanese courts have been inconsistent in addressing cases of coercive faith-breaking. While some verdicts have condemned the practice as illegal detention, others have been more lenient, citing family concerns about “mental health” or alleged “exploitation” as mitigating factors.]

Related to media silence about flawed case: Lawfare: State Uses Legal System in War on Faith

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