This Is About More Than One Religion

When investigative journalist looked behind the media narrative about one persecuted faith minority, she discovered a hidden sinister campaign that concerns much more than one religion

Part 4 (final) of a speech given by Japanese investigative journalist and prize-winning author Masumi Fukuda (福田ますみ) at a press conference on the theme “Japan: The Hidden Story Behind the Eradication of a Religion”, held at the Brussels Press Club in Brussels, Belgium on 29^th June 2026, organized by Human Rights Without Frontiers (HRWF), an independent non-profit NGO. Translated from the transcription of the original Japanese, slightly edited.

See also part 1: The Hidden Story Japan Doesn’t Want You to Hear

See also part 2: Japanese Court Assumes the Role of Inquisitor

See also part 3: Japan: The Political Origins of Smear Campaign

Then everything changed on 8^th July 2022. Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (安倍晋三) was assassinated. The suspect claimed that his mother had made enormous donations to the Unification Church [See editor’s note below], causing his family to fall into financial ruin, and that he therefore blamed Mr. Abe because of his perceived connection to the church.

See also Using Abe’s Assassination Against Unificationism

See also Volunteer Group Barred After Question Over Ties

Immediately after the assassination, virtually every major television station and newspaper in Japan began reporting on the Unification Church [See editor’s note below] day after day. From morning until night, viewers were presented with stories portraying the church as an exceptionally dangerous organization. The media repeatedly featured former members and lawyers critical of the church [See editor’s note below], while giving almost no opportunity for the church itself or its members to explain their position.

As a result, public opinion shifted dramatically. People came to believe that the church itself was responsible for the assassination, even though the church [See editor’s note below] had not committed the crime. The man who carried out the assassination acted alone. Yet the public’s anger was redirected toward the church.

The media’s reporting created an atmosphere in which criticizing the church [See editor’s note below] became not only acceptable but expected. Politicians, government agencies, and local authorities all came under pressure to distance themselves from the religious organization.

As criticism intensified, the government changed its own position. For many years, successive governments had maintained that the Religious Corporations Act allowed dissolution orders only when a religious organization had committed serious criminal acts. That had long been the accepted legal interpretation. However, after Abe’s assassination, the government reversed that interpretation.

It announced that repeated civil violations could also provide sufficient grounds for dissolving a religious corporation. This represented a fundamental change in legal policy.

In my opinion, the interpretation of the law was altered in order to make it possible to dissolve the Unification Church [See editor’s note below].

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) then launched an investigation into the church. Questionnaires were sent repeatedly, demanding vast amounts of documents and information. The investigation expanded further and further. Eventually, the ministry petitioned the court for a dissolution order.

Throughout this process, the media overwhelmingly portrayed these developments as both natural and necessary. Very few journalists questioned whether the legal standards themselves had changed. Even fewer asked whether freedom of religion might be endangered if a religious organization could be dissolved without having committed criminal offenses.

That, however, is precisely the question that should concern us. Today, it is the Unification Church [See editor’s note below]. Tomorrow, it could be another religious organization. Once the government acquires the power to dissolve a religious body without criminal convictions, every religious community becomes vulnerable.

The issue is therefore much larger than one particular church [See editor’s note below]. It concerns the future of religious liberty in Japan. Freedom of religion exists to protect unpopular religions as well as popular ones. If that principle is abandoned, then constitutional rights themselves begin to lose their meaning.

That is why I decided to investigate this issue.

When I began my research, I did not expect to reach these conclusions.

Like many ordinary Japanese people, I had accepted what the media had reported about the Unification Church [See editor’s note below]. But as I examined court records, official documents, and the historical evidence, I discovered that many of the commonly accepted narratives were either incomplete or misleading. The more I investigated, the more convinced I became that something was fundamentally wrong.

As a journalist, I believe my responsibility is not to defend any particular religion. My responsibility is to uncover facts. Whether those facts are popular or unpopular should not matter. Journalism exists to pursue the truth. If the media reports only one side of a story while ignoring evidence that points in another direction, then it is failing in its duty.

That is why I wrote The State’s Sacrifice (国家の生贄 – Kokka no Ikenie). My hope is that readers will examine the evidence for themselves rather than simply accepting what television or newspapers tell them.

The question before us is not whether we agree with the beliefs of the Unification Church [See editor’s note below]. People are free to approve of those beliefs or reject them. The real question is whether a democratic nation governed by the rule of law can take away a religious organization‘s legal status without demonstrating criminal wrongdoing.

That question should concern every citizen, regardless of religious belief.

Thank you very much.

See also part 1: The Hidden Story Japan Doesn’t Want You to Hear

See also part 2: Japanese Court Assumes the Role of Inquisitor

See also part 3: Japan: The Political Origins of Smear Campaign

See also Using Abe’s Assassination Against Unificationism

See also Volunteer Group Barred After Question Over Ties

Featured image above: The headtable of speakers at the press conference at the Press Club in Brussels on 29^th June 2026. Photo: Screenshot from live transmission by HRWF, edited for higher resolution and adjusted by ChatGPT, 5^th July 2026.

[Editor’s note: Although Masumi Fukuda uses the name “Unification Church” and also the word “church”, please be aware that the Unification Church in Japan in 2015 changed its name to Family Federation for World peace and Unification.]

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