Education minister Keiko Nagaoka said Friday that the government will launch an investigation into the controversial Unification Church — the first such probe of a religious group — setting the stage for it to be stripped of its religious corporation status.
The decision came days after an expert panel at the ministry drafted criteria for launching investigations of religious groups based on the religious corporation law. Among the criteria was for an official entity, such as a court, to judge that the group in question or a group member has violated laws, and that they caused “widespread damage and significant impact.”
“Given that there are multiple court rulings judging the former Unification Church or their followers as having violated the law, it meets the requirements in the criteria,” Nagaoka said during a news conference.