作者：安王秉平 来源：原创 发布日期：08-21
一 | TOKYO -- Japan’s government asked a court Friday to revoke the legal status of the Unification Church after an Education Ministry investigation concluded the group for decades has systematically manipulated its followers into donating money, sowing fear and harming their families.The request submitted to the Tokyo District Court asks for it to issue a dissolution order revoking the church's status as a religious organization. Education Ministry officials submitted 5,000 pieces of documents and evidence in cardboard boxes to the court to support its request. The process involves hearings and appeals from both sides and would take a while. If the order is approved and its legal status is stripped, the church could still operate but would lose its tax exemption privilege as a religious organization and would face financial setbacks.The request was made a day after Education Minister Masahito Moriyama announced a panel of experts had endorsed the revocation request based on the findings of the ministry's investigation into the church's fundraising tactics and other allegations. The Japan branch of the South Korea-based church, which officially calls itself the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, earlier condemned the government's decision.“It is our deepest regret that the Japanese government made the serious decision based on distorted information provided by a leftist lawyers’ group formed for the purpose of destroying our organization,” the church said in a statement late Thursday. “It will be a stain in Japan’s Constitutional history.”As part of the Education Ministry investigation, officials interviewed more than 170 people allegedly harmed by the church's fundraising tactics and other problems. The church failed to respond to dozens of questions during the seven inquiries, Moriyama said Thursday. The church tried to steer its followers’ decision-making, using manipulative tactics, making them buy expensive goods and donate beyond their financial ability and causing fear and harm to them and their families, Moriyama said Thursday. The tactics seriously deviated from the law on religious groups, in which the purpose of the churches’ legal status is to give people peace of mind, he said. “The activities are wrongful conducts under the Civil Code and their damages are immense.”The Agency for Cultural Affairs found 32 cases of civil lawsuits acknowledging damages totaling 2.2 billion yen ($14.7 million) for 169 people, while the amount of settlements reached in or outside court totaled 20.4 billion yen ($137 million) and involved 1,550 people, Moriyama said.Japan has in place hurdles for restraining religious activities due to lessons from the prewar and wartime oppression of freedom of religion and thought.The investigation followed months of public outrage and questions about the group’s fundraising and recruitment tactics after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s assassination last year. The man accused of shooting Abe allegedly was motivated by the former prime minister’s links to the church that he blamed for bankrupting his family.Decades of cozy ties between the church and Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party were revealed since Abe's assassination and have eroded support for Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's government. Kishida told reporters Thursday that the government’s decision to seek the revocation order was made carefully based on facts and was not political, denying speculation it was intended to shore up dwindling public support.The Unification Church obtained legal status as a religious organization in Japan in 1968 amid an anti-communist movement supported by Abe’s grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi.The church has acknowledged excessive donations but says the problem has been mitigated for more than a decade. It also has pledged further reforms.Experts say Japanese followers are asked to pay for sins committed by their ancestors during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula, and that the majority of the church’s worldwide funding comes from Japan.If the church's status is revoked, it would be the first under civil law. Two earlier cases involved criminal charges — the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult, which carried out a sarin nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway, and the Myokakuji group, whose executives were convicted of fraud.。 7月24日上午，“福来浙里更出彩”——2026年度浙江福彩“走进福彩公益金资助项目”系列主题活动第二站在义乌举行，60余名热心公益的社会公众代表和省、市媒体记者代表、福彩一线销售员代表等走进义乌市赤岸镇养老服务中心，亲眼见证福彩公益金在这里的使用情况。义乌市民政局及省市福彩中心有关人员共同参与了此次活动。活动开始前，参与活动的代表们走进养老服务中心的住宿楼、食堂以及认知障碍照护专区，实地了解院内老年人日常起居和照料服务情况。
二 | 据介绍，2025年，义乌市民政局使用福彩公益金资助老年人福利类项目63个，总计支出6000余万元，此次所走进的义乌市赤岸镇养老服务中心正是其中之一。自2022年以来，该中心累计使用福彩公益金90余万元，用于支持基础设施升级改造以及相关照护服务，目前入住老人最高年龄103岁，90岁以上老人有45名，可为赤岸及周边镇街老年群体提供医、养、护为一体的全方位服务。本次活动聚焦丰富老年群体精神文化生活，浙江福彩为院内长者打造了文艺展演、互动游戏相结合的沉浸式公益体验。戏曲、歌舞节目轮番上演，知识问答、休闲互动区有序开放，老人们踊跃参与各类趣味活动，在轻松氛围中舒展身心。同时，省福彩中心现场捐赠价值 5 万元慰问物资，包含全新轮椅、成套床上用品等实用物资，切实解决院内老人日常起居需求。截至目前，“福来浙里更出彩”——2026年浙江福彩“走进福彩公益金资助项目”系列主题活动已开展两场，接下来还将在其他10个地市陆续开展，下一场活动将于7月28日在嘉兴开展，我们欢迎更多热心公益的社会大众参与到活动中来，共同感受公益福彩的温度，直观见证福彩公益金为民惠民的实际成效。
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