After an investigation found the church manipulated and intimidated its members into giving money, the Tokyo District Court revoked the Unification Church of its legal status, taking away its tax-exempt privilege and requiring liquidation of its assets.
The South Korea-based church plans to appeal what Dr. Richard Land, president emeritus of Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina, calls a dangerous precedent.
"Just because we disagree vehemently with what they teach or how they practice their faith does not give government the right to squelch their freedom of faith and freedom of religion," he tells AFN.
While churches in the Land of the Rising Sun may not have robust freedom of religion protections, Land says their moral right to exist is given by God.
"I believe that soul freedom is the first freedom," he states. "People have a divine right to worship as they please. We must have the right to interface with God and to relate to God as we are driven by our conscience, not anyone else's conscience."
Land says the leaders of the church can and should be investigated, charged, and punished for any crimes they may have committed, but "that does not take away the whole faith's right to exist;" the church should be left alone.
The church, which officially calls itself the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, was founded in Seoul a year after the end of the Korean War by the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon. He proclaimed himself to be the messiah and preached new interpretations of the Bible and conservative, family-oriented value systems.
This is the first religious group subject to a revocation order based on violations of Japan's civil code, but Land warns that if a government can go after "Moonies" today, it could be the Baptists tomorrow.
