Lawfare: State Uses Legal System in War on Faith

Courtroom contradictions and retroactive laws: How Japan is waging lawfare and rewriting laws to dissolve large religious minority organization”

Leftist Lawyers Lie and Shame Japan II

Part 2 (final part) of analysis by Dr. Robert Kittel, Senior Advisor for the Asia Pacific Region of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, April 2025

See part 1

See also Court Applies Unique Criteria for Dissolution

Three days after the court decision, the lawyers [Editor’s note: from NNLASS, a network campaigning against the Unification Church / Family Federation] held a press conference on March 28, 2025 and praised the judgment. The first lawyer to speak was Masaki Kito, who played a game of smoke and mirrors. He cited the Religious Corporation Act in Japan and said the dissolution order simply removes the church’s religious corporation status and tax exemption. He emphasized the point saying,

“That is not the death penalty for the religious group, after the deprivation of religious corporation status. The insistence of the Unification Church about this point is a fabrication or exaggeration.”

However, the ruling from the Tokyo District Court said specifically,

“when a dissolution order for a religious corporation becomes final and binding, liquidation procedures are carried out.” [emphasis added]

Trying to square himself with the court ruling, Kito nonchalantly contradicted himself and added, “[…] the dissolution order is not confiscation of assets, but simply a liquidation procedure.” If the dissolution only removes the legal status of the church, then why should its assets be liquidated? Removing religious status is done with a piece of paper from the court. Liquidators liquidate. These are not the same. In fact, NNLASS has even asked the court to expedite the liquidation process.

The lawyers are trying to downplay the draconian insolvency that will be imposed on the innocent church. Why? It is so blatantly obvious that even a layman would ask,

“Why should the church that has no criminal record be dissolved?”

This question should pop into the mind of any casual Japanese observer since it is widely known that only two religious organizations in Japan have ever been dissolved. Both were based on criminal – not civil – convictions.

It took a 180-degree flip-flop to reinterpret Japanese laws to use civil misdemeanors to dissolve the church. This turnaround happened at night behind closed doors, was conducted in less than 24 hours, never subjected to legislative or judicial review, and applied retroactively – all with the sole purpose of dissolving the Unification Church. This is unprecedented in Japan and other developed democracies.

Worse still, in 1978 Japan voluntarily signed the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Article 18.3 allows legislative restriction on religious freedom “only” based on “prescribed laws” that “protect public safety, order, health, or morals […] of others.” Public safety, by definition, includes: crime prevention, fire safety, emergency medical services, and disaster preparedness. The church, in its six decades of existence, has never impinged on any of these vital “public safety” responsibilities.

More to the point, the “prescribed law” in the UN Covenant would expressly preclude any new interpretations of legal norms not backed by established precedence, especially those imposed unilaterally and retroactively. To dissolve the church, Japanese courts needed to go beyond “prescribed law.” New interpretations of the law targeted only one religious group – the Unification Church.

This aberration of justice is the difference between prosecution and persecution. These days it is called lawfare and has been pointedly prohibited by the UN International Covenant signed by Japan. To dissolve the church, domestic laws are being unilaterally reinterpreted and given precedence over a signed international treaty, thereby putting Japan in a precarious position where it betrays its international obligations. This exonerating evidence was entirely ignored in the Japanese court’s judgment of March 25.

The Japanese Constitution was written in the post-World-War-II era and remains the oldest unamended constitution in the world. The Preamble reads,

“We recognize that all peoples of the world have the right to live in peace, free from fear and want.”

Does that include the 600,000 members of the Unification Church who have been publicly ostracized?

The 1946 document goes on to say,

“We believe that no nation is responsible to itself alone, but that laws of political morality are universal; and that obedience to such laws is incumbent upon all nations who would sustain their own sovereignty and justify their sovereign relationship with other nations. We, the Japanese people, pledge our national honor to accomplish these high ideals and purposes with all our resources.”

Japanese courts need to be reminded of their country’s unaltered and time-honored tradition.

Willing to tarnish Japan’s image in front of international audiences to achieve their communist agenda, Kito closed his comments at the March 28 press conference saying, “In this sense […] a small number of overseas intellectuals are defending the Unification Church without knowing about Japan.” Here he is referring directly to the office of the President of the United States of America and his representative.

Rev. Paula White, the current Director of the White House Faith Office under President Donald Trump, released a video in December 2024 that shocked Japan. She connected the dots, emphasizing that Trump’s strong stance for religious freedom was a bedrock for democratic nations. She said in her taped message,

“Religious freedom is the foundation for all other freedoms. Japan is the United States’ great ally who we have the greatest appreciation for. However, concern has now been raised by prominent leaders around the world that believe Japan is not upholding its religious freedom commitment as a signer of the UN Human Rights Declaration.”

The video was prepared for a lecture event, titled “The Crisis of Religious Freedom and Democracy in Japan,” held in Tokyo and organized by the Japanese Committee of the International Religious Freedom Alliance.

Kito and his network of 350 liberal lawyers (a figure pompously promoted in the press conference) are calling the office of the President of the United States of America insignificant and irrelevant (i.e., “a small number of overseas intellectuals”). In the same breath, Kito said President Trump and his team are either uninformed or ignorant, or both (since they act “without knowing about Japan.”) This attitude is un-Japanese and arrogant.

Left-wing lawyers are blinded by political revenge. Ostensibly, without any thought or consideration, they willingly dishonor Japan on the global stage. The lawyers’ harm to “public welfare” (the legal term used to justify the dissolution order circumventing criminal conviction) is far worse than the church’s misconduct of collecting large donations from faithful followers which is litigated in civil court, when needed. More importantly, the church has instituted successful, self-imposed reforms from within and not a single civil case has been filed in the last seven years.

The harm to “public welfare” by the cadre of communist cronies is established and lengthy. They have: orchestrated the kidnapping, confinement, coercion, and deprogramming of 4,300 Japanese adults; pitted parents against their own adult children; extorted vast sums of money from parents and relatives; choreographed a seemingly endless stream of litigation to milk the system for funds needed to continue their charade; divided families which may take generations to heal (if ever); and undermined journalistic integrity and judicial independence. NNLASS are anti-Japanese activists promoting a communist agenda, masquerading as “lawyers”. They shame Japan’s pristine image.

In broad daylight, a leftist coup is being perpetrated in Japan. Two shots were fired, and one man was killed. This case is drawing international attention, and Japan is on the brink. If the leftists achieve their goal, this will be the most successful communist takeover in human history. Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels would be proud.

Slightly edited for publication purposes.

See part 1

See also Court Applies Unique Criteria for Dissolution

Dr. Robert Kittel earned his Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) from the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut in 2004, specializing in family-value-based character education. He also holds a Master of Divinity degree from the Unification Theological Seminary, New York. ​Throughout his career, Dr. Kittel has been dedicated to promoting traditional family values, interfaith harmony, and youth education through his leadership roles in various organizations affiliated with the Unification Movement.

Featured image above: Japanese state waging lawfare against religious minority. Illustration: Grok xAI, April 2025

Related to lawfare against religious minority: Japan Following the Way of China

Also related to lawfare against religious minority: Media/Legal Expert: Communism Behind Persecution

Also related to lawfare against religious minority: “Poorly Compiled Evidence Including Falsehoods”

And also related to lawfare against religious minority: Huge Scandal: “Ministry Is Falsifying Affidavits”

Also related to lawfare against religious minority: Japan’s New Laws to Curb New Religious Movements

Also related to lawfare against religious minority: New Law Designed to Bankrupt Family Federation

Also related to lawfare against religious minority: Religious Faith Framed as Mental Health Concern

Also related to lawfare against religious minority: Terms from Consumer Law Used to Rob Faith

And also related to lawfare against religious minority: New Law Manufacturing “Victims”, Dividing Families

And also related to lawfare against religious minority: Maverick Minister Lets “3 Foxes in the Henhouse”

More, related to lawfare against religious minority: Journalist Reveals Ugly Leftwing Conspiracy

And more, related to lawfare against religious minority: Militant Lawyers Dictate Government Policy

And more, related to lawfare against religious minority: Media Helping Terrorist Reach His Goal

Related to lawfare against religious minority: Kishida Administration Giving in to Terrorism

Related to lawfare against religious minority: Bizarre Atlantic Report Condoning Terror

Related to lawfare against religious minority: Japan Times: Warning of Terror

Related to lawfare against religious minority: Did constant hate-mongering cause terror?

Also related to lawfare against religious minority: Dissolution Case: Wild Claims, Illegal Actions

Also related to lawfare against religious minority: 2nd-Generation Members Protesting Persecution

Also related to lawfare against religious minority: Inhuman Government-Supported Mass Deprogramming

And also related to lawfare against religious minority: Bias: No Right to Respond for Religious Minority

More, related to lawfare against religious minority: Collusion to Rob Minority of Its Rights

And more, related to lawfare against religious minority: State and Media Creating “Today’s Non-Citizens”

Still more, related to lawfare against religious minority: Japan Criticized for Glaring Rights Violations

Even more, related to lawfare against religious minority: Two European Scholars Warning Japan

And yet more, related to lawfare against religious minority: Japan Censured at Religious Freedom Event

And even more, related to lawfare against religious minority: Inhuman Government-Supported Mass Deprogramming

And still more, related to lawfare against religious minority: Malicious One-Sided Government Source Selection

More, related to lawfare against religious minority: Government’s Foul Play Pointed Out